Length of Time
by Macaulay10
Summary: LL all the way! Lorelai overhears a conversation between Luke and Nicole and the outcome of it leaves everyone changed, and one person hurt. And at Yale, Rory tries to get through her first class at college, but is faced with surprises. RJ too...
1. Chapter 1

Outside of Luke's, in Stars Hollow  
  
Lorelai glanced down at her watch. She was running late. Her stomach ache had kept her in bed longer than she anticipated and now she was running late for her big opening at the inn. Her inn-she smiled at that beautiful thought. She would be working with Sookie again, best friends and coworkers and now co-owners forever. And Rory was happy at Yale; everything seemed so great. She was now at her crossroads. Should she just go on to the inn, as she was already late, or should she stop in for coffee?  
  
"Well this is certainly a quandary," she thought.  
  
She decided to weigh the options.  
  
"Go to Luke's-get coffee. Go to inn and be on time, plus don't risk coffee upsetting my stomach. Well this isn't really a quandary, it's a no- brainer. Luke's it is."  
  
She smiled at herself, knowing that there never really was anything to consider, Luke's always won in the end. But she knew she had to be fast.  
  
"Must waste no time chit-chatting with my favorite diner owner," she muttered to herself as she entered.  
  
She looked around and saw Luke taking someone's order. She also saw other tables waiting for his attention, and it didn't seem that he noticed her enter. She decided she would just have to grab herself a cup of coffee to go and slip out. She walked behind the counter, located the coffee pot, but could not find the to-go cups. She looked around, and finally spotted a pack on the shelf below. She squatted down and tried to open the plastic, and grew more agitated as she could not-  
  
"I am talking about Lorelai, Luke!"  
Lorelai froze, squatted by the floor, with the cups in her hands, as she recognized Nicole's voice, or rather her harsh whisper.  
  
"Oh, not this again, Nicole. I told you, Lorelai and I are just friends. This jealousy bit is getting a little old."  
  
"She's been hanging around here more lately than she used to."  
  
"Well her daughter and best friend practically has just left for college. It's understandable."  
  
Lorelai smiled. She couldn't believe that Luke was sticking up for her when Nicole was accusing him of-well, something, surely.  
  
"And this summer, we could have-well, gotten married-" Nicole barely spit out, while Lorelai nearly collapsed the rest of the way to the floor from sheer shock at that news. "-and I believe that we didn't because of her. And her hold on you."  
  
Lorelai heard Luke take a deep breath, and she assumed he then rubbed his temples with his hand, as he tended to do when he was exasperated.  
  
"Okay, what do you want me to say?" he asked, clearly anger building within him.  
  
"How about the truth," Nicole said, with all of anger, conviction and fear evident in her tone.  
  
Luke, as if it had just built up in him, spit out, "Nicole, I have no feelings for Lorelai! Okay!? If she never came into this diner again, I wouldn't care! But she is here a lot and so I talk to her; I wasn't raised to ignore my neighbors, and even if I tried, she wouldn't take the hint; she can be so exasperating! And irritating! Like a bug! She gets under my skin and mark my words, we will never DATE, so if you don't stop with this ridiculousness once and for all, WE will never date either!"  
  
Lorelai shut her eyes, to shut out the pain that those words had just caused her, and also to say a silent prayer that Luke would not come behind the counter. She listened intently, but could only hear her heart beating loudly, in pain.  
  
Finally after a few moments, she heard the sound of a kiss--a peck, and Nicole stammering "thank you, I won't bother you again about this. I'm sorry," followed by a grunt from Luke. She heard a sound that she assumed was Luke picking up the coffee pot and then she breathed a sigh of relief as she heard them both walk away. She believed that to be the longest sixty seconds of her life. She stood up slowly, and noticed that they both had their backs to her. She quietly and quickly made her way out of the diner and to her car. Once safely inside, she turned on her car, and wiped her eyes, which she had only just noticed had been filled with tears, that were starting to brim over to her cheeks.  
  
Meanwhile, at Yale-  
  
"Students, I realize that this is your first day at school and this is just a core class, but I will do what I can to make the study of psychology interesting. So we will do many workshops and exercises in class and out, to keep us on our toes and learning via first hand experience. For today, your first assignment will be to look at a classmate for the length of the entire period in complete silence."  
  
Professor Leafus smiled as he heard the familiar groans that permeated the classroom. It was the same every semester. It truly marked a beginning for him. It kept his job interesting to study how students struggled so much and so uncomfortably with such an easy assignment. He called out students names who would be teaming up with one another.  
  
".And Rory Gilmore with Paris Geller"  
  
Rory and Paris shot fearful and angry looks at one another, not believing this. How could fate be frowning on them so much. First they have to attend the same university, after suffering (mostly) at the same high school and then they have to live together, and now they could not even have a little privacy from one another for their first college period, as it would be spent staring at one another. Rory sighed and decided that she would just suck it up and replay the events of yesterday's Days of Our Lives in her head during the assignment, but before she could even get the main title in her mind, Paris, she noticed, was in front of the professor, telling him of the unfairness of life and how this is inhumane and intolerable and if he indeed valued his job as a teacher, he would not make her do this.  
  
"But Miss Geller, you both need partners and everyone else has already started. In fact, I think you are disturbing the peace in here," the professor said, amusedly at Paris.  
  
"You will be my partner, Professor," Paris said, already pulling her seat to the front of his desk and sitting with her chin in her hands.  
  
"But Miss Gilmore doesn't-"  
  
"I'll be her partner," a voice said from behind Rory, who turned immediately, recognizing the voice to be that of-  
  
"Jess!?"  
  
"Long story, but I believe we have to be completely silent for now, isn't that right Professor?"  
  
The Professor just rolled his eyes, as he noticed Paris making a face that clearly said she was annoyed that he. the professor. was not taking this assignment seriously enough.  
  
"This is gonna be a long and interesting school year," Rory muttered as she seated herself some feet away from the poor professor.  
  
"We need QUIET Miss Gilmore!" Rory noticed this was Paris yelling this, not the professor, and she obligingly turned her face to stare at the face of. well, someone she didn't think she liked a whole lot. But would have to stare at. for a long time. "Days of Our Lives" she thought inwardly. "Bo and Hope. Shawn and Belle.. Jess." Rory sighed a deep breath and finally did it-she looked into those brown, liquid eyes, which were staring into her blue pools with a look she couldn't quite detect, but was making her realize that this was going to be the longest stretch of sixty minutes in her life.  
  
Meanwhile, at Luke's Diner-  
  
Luke glanced at his watch. Only nine o'clock? "God, this is gonna be a long day," he thought agitatedly, as he watched Nicole's retreating form leave the diner. He breathed a sigh of relief. He was already having a bad day, with Nicole's usual Anti-Lorelai anger and questions.  
  
He smiled at the mere idea that he actually may have silenced her for good on the issue. Even he almost bought his performance, which was made to look like agitation at Lorelai, but which he truly knew was actually annoyance at Nicole, and only Nicole for her constant nagging.  
  
"Luke, honey, now that she's gone, I want to ask you, what were you talking about with Nicole before? It looked intense!" Luke squatted down to pick up some to-go cups that had fallen on the floor, in their plastic.  
  
"None of your business, Babette," he grunted, realizing this day would be longer and worse than he anticipated.  
  
"Well, whatever it was, Lorelai seemed really upset about it."  
  
"You mean Nicole?" Luke said casually, now wiping the counter.  
  
"No, Lorelai. You were arguing with Nicole, but in the end, I'd say she seemed okay, but Lorelai! Now she looked upset. Or maybe that was because she was running late for something, because she ran right out of here-"  
  
Luke held up a hand, now giving the rambling, seemingly-crazy woman before him his full attention. "What do you mean Lorelai seemed upset? Where was Lorelai? She didn't come in here today, Babette."  
  
"No, she did. I saw her. She moved the coffee pot, looked at it, and then squatted down behind the counter. I remember because I said to myself 'when I finish my pancake, I have to go ask Lorelai how Rory's doing at school, I miss her already, don't you-"  
  
But Luke heard nothing else that Babette said. He looked at the to-go cups that were in his hand now, that had been on the floor, the plastic pulled at, but not broken, and all the pieces started falling into place. All the color drained from his face. He steadied himself and turned to Babette again.  
  
"She is so pretty and talented. I really think-"  
  
"Enough about Rory, Babette. Tell me everything that happened. What did you see?"  
  
"Oh, well, I saw Lorelai come in and I was eating my pancake and talking to Miss Patty. We were in that corner over there-" she said, pointing.  
  
"I know where you sat, I served you. Now get to the point, please," Luke demanded, his patience wearing thin now.  
  
"Well I saw you and Nicole walk over to the counter, and the conversation seemed heated. I mean, it looked dramatic! And then she said something. And then you said something-" (Luke rolled his eyes, as obviously he knows that this was how their conversation went). "And I thought it was odd Lorelai hadn't stood up again. I thought maybe she was scrubbing the floor though, like she sometimes does," Babette continued, to which Luke made a confused face, like he wasn't believing he was giving this woman this much of his time. "And then you took the coffee pot and walked away, and after a moment, Lorelai stood up, looked around and left really quickly. I thought she looked a little pale. A little upset. That's why I wanted to come over here and see-"  
  
But Babette didn't have a chance to finish her sentence because Luke had already walked away from her. He walked over the phone, picked it up and dialed a number.  
  
"Sookie, hi, is Lorelai there yet? Damn! Listen, tell her to call me when she gets in, it's important." Luke hung up the phone and grunted, placing his hands impatiently onto the countertop.  
  
"Bye hon, take care." Luke looked up to see Babette leaving, a smile on her face, clearly not detecting that anything she had seen earlier was problematic.  
  
"Oh, to live in her world," he thought.  
He thought back to his conversation with Nicole, tracing through it, and growing madder every time he went over it. He grew madder with Nicole, but moreso with himself. He thought that conversation was about the longest minute of his life, and the only minute of his life he wished he could get back and make right. Now, he knew, this day was going to last forever, and nothing would seem right until he could see and talk to Lorelai and just explain himself. And apologize. How he just wanted to apologize for making her-oh God, he shut his eyes and just prayed that he hadn't made her cry.  
  
Meanwhile, in the car, enroute to her new inn-  
  
Lorelai drove on an abandoned little road that she believed would get her there faster, as she was already running late. She just drove without really thinking about where she was going-she was in automatic pilot. But her thoughts, on the other hand, were all over the place, not knowing where they were going, and leading her heart to a million places she had never considered before.  
  
"Why do I even care? I mean, Luke doesn't care for me in any special way, so what? I am just like all the other townspeople that come into his diner and give him business. I mean, it's not like I am in love with Luke, so why do I care?"  
  
Another part of her crushed spirit spoke up just then-"Maybe I do care. more than I've admitted. and this just killed that small hope I had had. I don't know!" She said those last three words out loud, and continued driving. "I mean, I'm just a customer to him. Nothing more. That's okay. It's not like we had the promise of it turning to more than friendship someday, so the fact that he doesn't want me romantically shouldn't upset me. Or the fact that he almost got married this summer. Do not care. At all."  
  
But her heart was wiser than her brain just then, and she knew deep down, that she did care. Perhaps, she thought, she had waited too long to discover her possible feelings for him and now it was too late. "No, it is something more than that."  
  
Friendship. "He's my friend and I thought I was at least his, also. And friends don't say those things about each other. They don't." She found herself, then, thinking about one of her old favorite shows, Cheers. "Okay, so even if I am just a customer, I am a regular! And Sam Malone would NEVER have treated Norm or Cliff that way behind their backs," she decided, smiling at the fond and comforting feeling her old favorite sitcom brought to her. "Ah!" she screamed aloud, as a pain in her stomach came suddenly, the worst of all the pains in her stomach she had yet experienced, since it had started a few days back.  
  
In terrorizing agony, she steered her car slowly to the side of the road, where she stopped it and collapsed in pain over the steering wheel. She forced herself to look at the clock on the radio of her car. 9:10. "oh, God," she thought. "I am late." She started to feel herself losing consciousness from the pain, as one final thought entered her mind. "Don't take too much time, Luke." 


	2. Chapter 2

Hey, thanks for the reviews, everyone! Very much appreciated!!  
  
Length of Time Chapter 2  
  
Nicole drove down a little abandoned road on her way to work, going over what Luke had said to her about Lorelai. She always knew that Lorelai thrust herself in Luke's attention by going to the diner everyday, practically every hour, and forcing him to talk to her, but she never knew that not only did Luke not like this, but that was the only reason he talked to Lorelai.  
  
"I mean, he probably doesn't even consider her a friend, the way he made it sound!" Nicole thought, excitedly as she continued down the road that she drove down every day.  
  
She was happy that she now knew this, as Luke's frustration over Lorelai was clearly not acted, but heartfelt, and she smiled even more at the thought that she could drop the subject of this woman, for good, and concentrate on the two of them more. Get more serious with him.  
  
She noticed a car at the side of the road. "Isn't that Lorelai's car?" she asked aloud to herself. She slowed down as she drove by and didn't notice anyone in the car. She shrugged her shoulders and kept driving, smiling again at the day's events. "This is gonna be a good day, I can tell," she thought happily.  
  
Meanwhile, in Lorelai's car on that same abandoned road-  
  
Lorelai, now slumped over the armrest in the middle of the front seat, her head dangling over the passenger's seat, regained consciousness, barely, at hearing the sound of a car driving by. She knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime (and her life was at dire risk) opportunity, as cars barely ever passed down this road. She knew that this could be the last car to pass down the road for the whole day.  
  
She tried to gather all her strength against the searing pain in her stomach, and now, her entire body, and pull her head up, to ask for help.  
  
The last time she had regained consciousness, she had tried to reach for her cell phone to call for help, which led her to pass out again, only instead of over the steering wheel, this was over the armrest.  
  
This new effort to pick herself up, also to seek help, led her to pass out again-this time, with less hope in her final thoughts that she would wake again, or that help would find her. She felt all hope was gone when she found herself surrounded by black again.  
  
Meanwhile, at Yale-  
  
Rory believed the sweetest words she ever heard muttered were "Okay, class, you can stop now," which Professor Leafus said to the class about five minutes early, looking eager to end the class himself. Rory looked quickly away from Jess and over to the Professor.  
  
"Write a one page reflection on this exercise and why you think I made you do it."  
  
"And of course you will write one as well, Professor," Paris said adamantly.  
  
"Uh, actually, Miss Geller, being the Professor and all, I just hand out the assignments, I don't actually do them. But let me remind you of something, I also grade them."  
  
Paris rolled her eyes and yanked out the syllabus he had handed out at the beginning of class.  
  
"This says that all members that are present in class and therefore participate in the in-class assignments are expected to do the reflections on those assignments. If you are absent, consider your grade a '0' for that reflection, blah blah blah, you know the rest. Were you not a participant and quite present in class?" she demanded.  
  
"Uh, yes, but-"  
  
Paris took a deep breath. "Well, I think that it would be fascinating to see how you felt about this assignment having done it yourself! And you can't just find loopholes in the assignment, reasons not to write it, or technically, couldn't we all just do that-"  
  
"Come on, Paris, time for your next class," Rory said, while pulling Paris by the arm toward the door. She turned to the Professor, and added, jokingly "we never should have let her out of the attic."  
  
Professor Leafus looked toward the doorway, stunned. He put his hand on the back of his neck. "Maybe tomorrow, I should be absent."  
  
"Hey, don't you want to talk to me?" Jess said, nagging on Rory's shirt sleeve, as Paris stomped away. "Aren't you the least bit curious as to why I'm here?"  
  
"Actually, I preferred doing the silent thing we just did back there. Let's have our own little exercise outside of class, and in it too, where we always regard one another with silence, and then later, we'll reflect on how it makes us feel, although I can already tell you that I enjoy it because I have absolutely no desire to talk to you," Rory said, as she attempted to get away from Jess.  
  
"I know you're mad at me and you have every right to be, but aren't you wondering how I got into Yale?"  
  
Rory stopped and turned to him.  
  
"Jess! You know what? I am curious. I have NO idea how you could have gotten in, but I do know that it is not fair, because you don't deserve this, and it is just one more thing to add to the long list of things that make me mad in regards to you!"  
  
"Mad at least means that you care still. And put some thought into me. That gives a guy reason to hope. Uh, that maybe we can at least be friends, that is."  
  
Jess cleared his throat as Rory walked up to him until their faces were only inches apart.  
  
"Listen to me. I don't put thought into you. Not anymore. I only just remembered how mad I was about you and everything that has to do with you because I was forced to stare at you for about an hour with nothing but my own thoughts, which because your face was IN mine, happened to be of you. But that assignment is over and as soon as you are out of my sight, my thoughts of you, angry or not, will be over too. Out of sight, out of mind. It's a great quote for how I feel about you.  
  
And don't talk about rekindling any kind of friendship, because your actions give a girl reason to doubt, so don't you think for a second that you have any reason to hope, okay? And while I AM curious as to how you.. MANAGED... to get into this school, I don't care. I can live with the mystery. Just leave me alone. I mean it," she finally finished, taking a deep and angry breath.  
  
She looked up at him and noticed then a small and unsettling (for her) smile crept up on one side of Jess's mouth. "I have to get to class," she finished, walking past him, not looking back.  
  
And at Luke's-  
  
Luke went through the next hour as if in slow motion. He couldn't think straight, and worked in auto-pilot. He grunted whenever anyone from the town addressed him and burned a hole, practically, into the phone with his eyes. He just kept staring at it, waiting for her to call.  
  
He had a knot in his stomach, and every now and then, realized that he was literally holding his breath. He would let out a breath, asking himself why he was holding it in to begin with. He just felt so horrible about the whole thing.  
  
"Did I actually insinuate that I only talk to her because she is here, talking to me, BOTHERING me, and I was raised not to ignore my neighbors... no, I didn't insinuate it, I actually SAID it," he thought.  
  
"I actually SAID that I only talk to her out of politeness and obligation and basically also, that she ticks me off and-" his thoughts came up on him like a madman in the dark-he grabbed his forehead with one hand as his own choice words came back to him in full: "If she never came into this diner again, I wouldn't care!"  
  
Suddenly, he felt as if his world had just ended. "How she must have felt when I said that," he thought, wincing. He knew it was worse than he could even believe. It had been over an hour since he had talked to Babette, and it was moving so slowly, and getting worse with each passing moment.  
  
He knew that Lorelai already got to the inn, it was only twenty minutes from the diner, and probably got the message from Sookie, but purposely didn't call him back.  
  
"And why would she? She was probably hurt by the whole thing. She must hate me now," he thought, and his anger and worry was momentarily replaced by sadness. He couldn't figure out why he was so sad.  
  
He knew he didn't mean what he said and would just explain that he was actually just annoyed with Nicole's Lorelai-drilling and (hopefully) everything would be okay again. After he had a talking-to with Nicole of course, as well. He needed to tell her that he was lying about what he said and wanted her to just leave him alone about his friendship with Lorelai.  
  
He still just couldn't figure out why he couldn't put the whole thing out of his mind when he figured it would all work out later.  
  
He took a deep breath and headed to the phone, picking it up and dialing her cell phone number. It went, after three rings, into her voicemail. BEEP. "I.. Lorelai.. It's Luke.. Um.." He started, lamely, and then hung up in frustration. He knew he'd have to see her to apologize.  
  
"This day couldn't get any worse," he thought aloud.  
  
Meanwhile, on the little, old abandoned road, it was getting much worse..  
  
Lorelai heard a noise and regained consciousness. It sounded like a truck, it was so loud. It must have been close to her. She forced herself to glance at the radio clock again. 2:03. "Oh my God, I haven't died yet!?" she thought.  
  
"Miss?" A male voice's yelling broke her feverish thoughts. She could hear a voice through the windows of the car.  
  
"Are you okay? Can you unlock this? Miss? I don't wanna break your window! You don't look right, Miss. Miss, can you unlock this?...."  
  
She wasn't sure what was going on, but she gathered all her strength to get her hand to the door. to the unlock switch. She pushed it up, to unlock, before passing out again.  
  
Even in her darkness, her senses were with her. She could feel the man pull her by the shoulders and touch her head, checking for a fever no doubt, as she was obviously not bleeding or visibly hurt.  
  
She could hear some words coming from the kind man. He sounded older, she thought.  
  
"Miss, you look... miss.. pale... are you alright miss?"  
  
She could feel him carrying her, and then, she couldn't think or feel anymore. Her senses relieved her and she was encompassed by the blackness again. no thoughts, no feelings, just black.  
  
At Luke's Again-Afternoon  
  
Sookie walked into the diner and found her table with Jackson waiting at it. She greeted her husband and said kissed him before sitting down.  
  
Luke walked out of the backroom and nearly fell down when he saw Sookie. He glanced around nervously to see if Lorelai had come in with her. Suddenly his palms felt sweaty to him and the knots that had gone from his stomach, due to the diner being so busy at lunchtime, returned in full. He walked over to the table.  
  
"Did Lorelai come in with you?" Before he could wait for her to answer, as  
  
obviously she was still upset and didn't come, he continued on. "Did you give her my message?"  
  
"Actually, I didn't get the chance to. She didn't come in today. Emily had called looking for her, and I assumed that she needed her for something and Lorelai, being completely and always obligated to her, went to do that. But whenever I called her cell, she didn't answer. It's not like her not to call, either, just to say she's late. I came here for lunch, actually, to see if she is around here."  
  
Luke just stared at Sookie, dumbfounded. "She didn't come in today? That can't be right. It's the-"  
  
"Big opening, I know. I know she wouldn't miss that. Even on account of Emily. I started worrying that maybe Rory called with a problem at Yale, and a million other things that COULD keep her from the opening. That's why I called her a million times. But she didn't answer. And I couldn't reach Emily either, to see if she ended up going there for some reason."  
  
Luke noticed that his heart rate sped up even more, and he tried to control  
  
himself. Now he was worried, in addition to just feeling completely awful already. He was incapable of saying anything just then. He didn't know what to do, but he felt that he needed to be doing something.  
  
Jackson, instead, broke the nervous silence. "You said you were gonna call Rory. Did you get through?"  
  
Sookie shook her head nervously. "No, but that's not unusual. I.. I mean, I think it was her first day of classes. She wouldn't have been around no matter what. It was a longshot."  
  
Sookie looked up, just then, and noticed how pale and unsettled Luke looked.  
  
"Hey, are you okay? You look horrible. I mean, I'm nervous too, but-"  
  
"This is my fault," he stammered, barely audible.  
  
Jackson tried to break the nervous tension. "Why, do you have her tied up in the back? Because other than that, how could this be-"  
  
"I made her upset when she left here."  
  
He let out a small grunt and hesitatingly explained briefly.  
  
"She overheard something I said to Nicole about her, irritating me and me not... well, liking it, and she left here very upset. I didn't even know she was here."  
  
"Oh honey, I'm sure that's not it," Sookie said.  
  
She motioned for Luke to sit, and he did so, still grunting and grudging.  
  
She touched his arm. "Listen, I know Lorelai and nothing would have kept her from the opening at the inn. She has feelings, and they can be hurt, but she is also a professional. And this is a dream for her."  
  
"I said I wouldn't care if she never came back to this diner again. Ever. At all."  
  
"Ooh," Jackson grimaced. Sookie shot a look at him as if to say "you are so NOT helping!"  
  
She looked back at Luke.  
  
"Okay, Luke, I won't lie, you may have hurt her feelings, but she didn't run away or anything because of it. You KNOW Lorelai's stronger than that, Luke. I can promise you, it's something else. As her best friend, I am declaring that. Okay?"  
  
Luke glanced up at Sookie and then back down again. He thought she might be right, but it didn't make him feel better. Something just wasn't right--- he could feel it.  
  
With his senses all in overdrive the sound of the bell at the door made him jump and turn. He stood up when he noticed it was a police officer who entered the diner. 


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, thanks for the reviews!!!  
  
Length of Time, Chapter 3  
  
At Luke's-  
  
Luke watched the officer enter, and he felt as if everything had stopped.. he felt as if his heart stopped, his breathing stopped, and everything was slow and still.  
  
"Can I help you?" he finally managed to muster out, now standing in front of the older officer.  
  
"Uh, yes, I'd like two cups of coffee, to go, please."  
  
"You're not Stars Hollow officers," Luke said, more to himself than to the cop.  
  
"Right. Do you not serve coffee to out-of-town cops? Because me and my partner just need a quick fix, really. I promise, we won't tell anyone you gave us coffee, it there's some sort of odd rule against-"  
  
Luke walked, in a zombie-like fashion, over to the counter, where he started fixing the officer two cups of coffee... angrily ripping open the plastic on the cups that Lorelai had been obviously trying to open just hours ago.  
  
"What brings you guys to Stars Hollow?" he asked, in what he hoped was casual, conversational tones, but he knew he sounded miserable, and was confusing the cop as to why he was even attempting small talk.  
  
Sookie and Jackson now seated themselves at the counter, next to this officer, listening as well.  
  
"We are just checking up on someone, to see if they're home," the officer said, uncomfortably, clearly thinking that these people were odd.  
  
Luke just stared at this officer, debating on whether or not it would be wise to stand him up, shake him and threaten to poor the scalding hot coffee from the to-go cups onto his face if he didn't tell him what was going on and if it had ANYTHING to do with Lorelai Gilmore.  
  
Before Luke had the chance to make up his mind, another officer entered, located his partner and headed over to the counter.  
  
"She's not home. What should we do?"  
  
"Uh, who's not home?" Luke asked, his patience wearing out.  
  
"Sir, I realize this is a small town, and you all probably tell one another everything, but as you've pointed out, we are not from around here, and aren't in the habit of telling our business to everyone else, let alone complete strangers."  
  
Luke had just about made up his mind that he would jump over the counter and beat it out of them, when Sookie noticed the look in his eyes, and touched his arm, so to calm him and let her take over for a little bit.  
  
"Um, we just want to know if this has anything to do with Lorelai Gilmore. She's a friend of ours, who-"  
  
"Oh, great, then do you know where she is?" the first officer asked Sookie.  
  
"No, we haven't seen her today. And we are concerned. Why are YOU guys looking for her?" Sookie asked, in her best patient voice. But she was starting to understand how Luke felt.  
  
"Obviously I don't know where she is today or we wouldn't be talking to YOU about her," she thought.  
  
The officer took a deep breath. "Well we found her car abandoned on Route 58. The driver's side door was open and her pocketbook was still inside. There was no sign of her anywhere near the area. The car is being dusted for prints now, and we have her license picture and got her address from it-"  
  
Luke felt all the color drain from his face just then. "What's being done?!" he demanded. Then, more calmly, he added, "I mean, to find her."  
  
He tried to pull himself together, but it was obvious to the officers that this man was on the edge.  
  
"Well, now that we know she hasn't been home-"  
  
"-Or to work," Sookie added, trying to be helpful, but growing more frantic as well.  
  
"-We are going to check all the local hospitals... just in case... but we aren't sure what could have happened. I mean, first of all-"  
  
"Hey, Luke, could I get those waffles?" someone called out.  
  
"The diner is closed! Everyone out!" Luke yelled, feeling like he was really starting to lose his mind. The customers exchanged a lot of confused looks, as he turned back to the officer.  
  
"First of all.." Luke started, motioning for the cop to continue.  
  
"Well, first of all, there is not one dent on her car to suggest that she was forced off the road and then kidnapped," the officer started, daring a look at the three people staring intently at him.  
  
Luke rested one hand on his cheek, in utter disbelief at this entire thing, as he listened to the officer.  
  
"And her cell phone does not have any 911 calls listed in her recent call history. And we want to rule out theft as well, as her pocketbook was still in the car and if someone had mugged her, somehow, they would have taken that. And also we are ruling out car trouble, as no mobile service was called on her phone either, and her battery and gas level are fine in her car."  
  
"So, as far as you're concerned, she's just disappeared. This is all a mystery..." Sookie suggested, starting to tremble. Jackson placed a hand around her waist and offered comfort. He glanced at Luke and saw a look of sheer... pain. That was the only way Jackson could see fit to describe how Luke looked.  
  
"Well, no, we are not saying she has disappeared and it's a mystery," the other officer began. "I mean, we don't know where she is, but we have ruled out a few possible explanations. But there could be other explanations that we haven't ruled out."  
  
"Which are-" a very upset Luke encouraged further elaboration.  
  
"She could have been hurt and someone could have driven her to a nearby hospital, or she could have pulled over to take a nap, if she were very tired, and someone could have driven up.. Route 58 isn't the best road to pull over on. I mean, not many people drive by.. a few commuters, but mostly truckers."  
  
"Are you suggesting that-" Jackson started, noticing that Sookie had now also gone as pale as Luke.  
  
"We are not suggesting anything. We are just tossing around possible explanations. The only trouble is, unidentified people are brought into hospitals all the time, and as Lorelai obviously would not have had identification on her upon arrival at a hospital," the officer said, holding up her driver's license.  
  
"So she would be another unidentified patient. And we won't know it's her until we can see some of the Jane Doe's at all the local hospitals if that might be what happened to Lorelai. Unless she was actually conscious OR someone took her and happens to say where they found her, both of which would lead the hospital to contact the police, which hasn't happened."  
  
Luke took a deep breath and turned to face his customers at the diner. "Did you hear me? I said I am closed! Out! All of you! Now!" he demanded, as customers scurried to get out, obviously detecting that Luke was having a personal crisis.  
  
Luke turned back to the officers. "If I can help, I will go to any hospital and help to identify if it's her there, one of the unidentified people, I mean."  
  
"Well, we've sent a copy of her picture to all the local-" the officer stopped, looking at Luke, seeing his expression painted over with desperation and anxiety. "Okay, sir, that would really help. Why don't you head over to St. Marks's Hospital. It's not the closest to the place she was abandoned on Route 58, but it's directly off the truck route."  
  
"Well, that's just ASSUMING a trucker picked her up. Shouldn't I go to the hospital closest to where her car was?" Luke asked.  
  
"We already have a few men there, keeping an eye out for her. There has been no one, so far as they can tell, admitted that could be her."  
  
Luke looked at Sookie and then at Jackson. "Take her back to the inn, in case she calls. Maybe she's somewhere else."  
  
"Yes, someone definitely should be somewhere that you think she might call, if she should be somewhere we haven't considered and she comes across a phone," the officer said.  
  
Without another word or a look back at anyone in the diner, Luke grabbed a coat and headed out the door.  
  
Meanwhile, in Lorelai's unconsciousness-  
  
Lorelai could feel herself drifting in and out of consciousness. She was recalling bits of conversation she remembered-but she couldn't see his face. She could only hear an older man's kind voice.  
  
"You look so sick... I wish you would wake up.. Miss, we are close to the hospital.. hang on.. just hang on.. "  
  
She could feel herself being hoisted out of a vehicle and into those same, kind arms.  
  
"I have to leave you here. I can't stay.. they can't know who I am.. you're in good hands now..."  
  
And then she could feel lips on her forehead, the whiskers from his growing beard on her cheek, and she could sense he was gone. She heard more noise.. chaotic noise.  
  
"Doctor, who is this?...... what?...... Ugh, another drop-off. Help me get her inside.."  
And that was all Lorelai could feel before she passed out again, hoping she would soon be able to wake up for good.  
  
Meanwhile, in the car enroute to the inn-  
  
Sookie jumped when she heard her cell phone ring. She wiped her eyes and picked up the phone warily.  
  
"Hello?...... Rory," she said, trying to find something to say to her, but having no idea how to tell her anything. "How the hell are ya, kid? How's the first day of class?"  
  
Meanwhile at Yale-  
  
Rory made a face at the phone, confused at Sookie's odd behavior. "Sookie, you called me before, but I was in class. What's up?..... Sookie, stop acting weird. Just tell me what's going on.."  
  
From a little ways away, Jess watched Rory on the phone, trying to figure out how to get back into her good graces. He was brought out of his thoughts of plans and schemes to win her back by a shriek that came from.. Rory.  
  
"Sookie, are you serious!? I.. I'm on my way.."  
  
Jess followed a running and seemingly-very-upset Rory, thinking, "this is it." 


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for all the advice everyone! I am new at this, and really appreciate the encouragement!!  
  
Also, all disclaimers pertaining to each and every character apply. The show and its wonderful town and characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino! (I forgot about that in the other chapters!!)  
  
Length of Time Chapter 4  
  
Rory ran as fast as she could to the parking lot and to her new car, courtesy of Richard and Emily Gilmore. She opened her schoolbag and looked frantically for the keys as a million thoughts crossed her mind. She pulled out pencils, pens, notes, tossing everything frantically to the ground, muttering "where are they?" as tears entered her eyes. She finally located the keys and opened the door, but was stopped before getting in.  
  
"You're not driving," Jess said.  
  
"I have to! I have to get to Stars Hollow now! Something's wrong, and I can't just sit here, with-"  
  
Jess touched her hand though, and handed her back the pens, pencils and notes that she had dropped to the ground.  
  
"Okay. Get in. You can't drive in the condition you're in. But I can."  
  
He noticed she was about to hesitate. "Rory? You know I'm right. This is no time for grudges. I don't know what's wrong, but obviously it's something bigger than our petty issues, so get in. You don't have to talk to me. And I won't talk either. I'm just gonna get you there. I promise."  
  
She looked up at him, barely seeing anything through her watered-down blue eyes, but she realized that he was right. She wouldn't be able to see the road with so many tears in her eyes. "Fine," she said, handing him the keys.  
  
Despite the severity of what was going on, although he didn't know what actually WAS going on---what emergency had set Rory off---Jess smiled a small smile when Rory turned her back to go to the passenger's side. He wanted to be there for her, and this was his chance. He got in the car, started it, looked at her serious, resolute face, staring ahead, looking as though she had no intention of talking to him. He started regretting what he had said. He couldn't break his promise, but he desperately, just then, wanted to ask her what had happened--- who had called. But he just sighed, reversed the car out of the spot, and set off... to Stars Hollow.  
  
At a hospital... somewhere..  
  
"Doctor, she's ready for surgery. Do you think she'll be okay?"  
  
"Well, sure, once we operate, it should be fine, but I just can't understand how it got so advanced without her checking herself in somewhere. Must have been a sneak attack. Have we found out who she is yet?"  
  
"No idea. But let's get her into the OR."  
  
The nurse wheeled an unconscious, dark-haired and pretty woman into the OR, before taking one last look at her, wishing her well before continuing about her day.  
  
Meanwhile enroute to St. Marks's Hospital-  
  
Luke felt as though every elderly driver got on the road at the exact time he set out to get to the hospital. He was forced to drive in traffic a good 20 miles per hour below the speed limit. His heart was racing faster than his truck, and he just sat there--mad with thoughts.  
  
His thoughts tortured him. He still felt horrible about what Lorelai had heard him say to Nicole, but now... now that didn't even matter. He was now beside himself with worry for her. And wondering what could have happened to her. Tears sprung to his eyes at the thought that if something... bad... happened, and her last thoughts of him were that he was not her friend and didn't like her, he couldn't live with himself.  
  
But he banished those thoughts as soon as they entered his mind. He had to remain hopeful. He couldn't allow himself to think the worst right now. Suddenly he jumped at the sound of a phone ringing. It was the cell phone that Nicole had made him buy over the summer. It, like Nicole, had a very annoying ring, Luke mused.  
  
He picked it up and looked at the caller ID. "Nicole." He grunted, before pushing the "talk" button.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey, hon, what's up?"  
  
"Nothing," Luke said, not willing to talk to Nicole about what had happened just yet, as he knew with his emotions as they were, he might say awful things to her.  
  
"Um, are you okay? You don't sound right," Nicole said, in her perkiest voice, in hopes of cheering him up.  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
Nicole wracked her brain for something to say to make conversation.  
  
"Oh," she started. "Today, on my way to work, weirdest thing. I saw Lorelai's car on the side of the road on Route 58. I thought that was the oddest-"  
  
Luke nearly steered his truck off the road. "What?" Luke said, when he found his control again, sounding much more calm than he actually felt.  
  
"What?" Nicole asked, innocently.  
  
"You SAW her car? What time?"  
  
"I don't know, 9:30 or something," she answered defensively. Then, as sort of an afterthought, she added, "why?"  
  
"You saw her car on the side of the road and didn't stop? Or.. or call someone?"  
  
"As I drove by, I glanced into the car and didn't see her. I thought maybe she met up with Sookie or something on her way to work--"  
  
"WHY would she do that? WHY? I.. I... I mean WHY would she carpool with Sookie for the last five minutes of her trip to the inn and leave her car on the side of the road?"  
  
"Well, I thought maybe her car had died---"  
  
"No, Nicole! You don't like Lorelai, and you didn't care. If you saw her, you would have stopped so you would LOOK nice, but since you didn't see her, you decided to just pass on and forget it. Obviously you didn't call me, because of your stupid CONCERNS over my friendship with her, and if something's happened----"  
  
"Luke! Calm down! She is probably at work right n---"  
  
"No, Nicole, actually she is nowhere to be found right now. The police have no idea where she could be and Sookie hasn't heard from her all day either. And if you had done the right thing and put the police on this this MORNING when you saw the car, they might have found her by now! But no..you know, even if Lorelai didn't like you, she would have stopped no matter what to see if everything was all right, and call around if you weren't inside the car, just to make sure---"  
  
Luke stopped, as he thought of something. "Was the door open or closed?"  
  
"Huh?" Nicole asked, terrified of how he may react to anything else she might say.  
  
"The door to Lorelai's car. Was it opened or closed?"  
  
"It was closed. The car was just sitting there nicely..."  
  
"She was inside."  
  
"I didn't see her!"  
  
"Well then her head was down, or the seat was reclined... but the police found the car with the door open! When you saw the car, she was still inside!"  
  
"Luke, I'm.. I don't know what to say. Let me come see you. Let me come and be there for---"  
  
Luke let out a disbelieving breath and a small, sarcastic laugh. "Don't even think about it." And then he hung up. He beeped his horn in frustration. "Come on! If you're gonna drive twenty miles per hour, get OUT of the left hand lane!"  
  
Meanwhile at the Dragonfly---  
  
Sookie collapsed into a chair in the main lobby and Jackson sat down on his knees, facing her, putting one hand on her cheek.  
  
"Should we cancel the big opening? I can't have this if I can't share it with Lorelai," Sookie said, sobbing still.  
  
"No. You can't cancel it. When we find Lorelai and talk to her and you dare to tell her that you sent all your guests, your FIRST guests home, well... she'll kill you." Jackson smiled at her and kissed her on her forehead before continuing.  
  
"You know, it was no easy task getting this inn," he started.  
  
"No easy task," Sookie agreed, sobbing.  
  
"There was the issue of what to do with the Independence Inn and the finances of opening your own place. It almost seemed like everything went against you guys getting that dream at all." He paused and lifted her chin so that she was forced to look into his eyes.  
  
"But you guys faced those challenges head-on and worked through it. You made sure you'd see it through no matter what obstacles came your way. And you knew that you owed it to yourselves and each other to do that. Now this is another challenge, and you know as well as I do that Lorelai would NOT want you to throw in the towel right now. Now... I've called into work and am not going in today. I am here to help you with whatever you need. Just let Michel do most of the nitty-gritty details today, and you just sit tight. Okay?"  
  
She touched his chin with her hand and kissed him. "Okay."  
  
And in other parts of town...  
  
"Thank you," Rory said, breaking the ongoing silence between them. "This doesn't change anything, but thanks for taking me, and also for keeping your promise and not talking to me."  
  
Jess didn't say anything, but just managed a small smile, while staring straight ahead at the road.  
  
Rory took a deep breath and continued. "Sookie called and said that my mom never showed up at work today. And today was the big opening. And she would never miss the big opening. Opening her own inn has been a dream for her and nothing would keep her from it. And the police.." She took a deep breath, still staring ahead and made herself continue. "Sookie said the police came into Luke's and said they found her car on the side of Route 58. She wasn't in it. But her pocketbook and stuff was. And... and her car was fine, so she didn't pull over because of car problems. So basically, she is missing and no one has any possible explanation for what could have happened to her," she finished, starting to cry again.  
  
Jess furrowed his eyebrows, while focusing on driving. He couldn't believe it. He licked his lips and, while he was concerned for Rory's wellbeing, he couldn't help thinking about Luke. "I bet he's going out of his mind," he thought.  
  
"Jess, you can talk. In fact, I would very much like it if you could talk right now. We are sitting in the worst possible traffic, miles still from home, and I need to think about something else right now. Just tell me."  
  
Jess cleared his throat. "Tell you what?"  
  
"How did you get into Yale?"  
  
He gave her his signature half-smile, full of mysteries and life, and she looked into his eyes, expectantly, hoping to get her mind off the horrible things that were torturing it.  
  
"Well..." he started.  
  
At St. Marks's Hospital-  
  
Luke burst through the doors of the Emergency Room and practically bore down the first nurse he could find. She looked intently at him, but he couldn't speak. His heart seemed to be caught in his throat, preventing him from speaking. After what seemed like forever, he managed to say, "I.. I am looking for someone."  
  
The nurse ushered him to the waiting area, to take a chair. She sat next to him, allowing him a moment to calm down before continuing.  
  
"She... she has black hair, shoulder-length. Mid-thirties. Pretty. I think if she came in here, she would be Jane Doe..."  
  
"Is that her real name?"  
  
"No... no... her name is Lorelai Gilmore. But she wouldn't have had any ID with her."  
  
"There is a woman here who fits that description actually. But going on that description alone, a lot of people could fit it. It COULD be her... but then again, it might not be. The unnamed woman I am thinking of is actually just heading into surgery."  
  
Luke swallowed. "Could.. could I see her? Just to see-"  
  
"Right this way," the nurse said, ushering an overly-eager and jittery Luke to the OR prep room. "She was JUST about to be wheeled in to surgery. You'll have to say whether or not it's her and then don't expect to stay in there."  
  
Luke just nodded as they stopped outside a door. The nurse opened the door and he stepped in, his breathing growing even more labored. Two steps in and he looked at the unconscious woman on the stretcher. His breath caught and he was unable to remove his eyes from her pale, slight form. He forced himself to look away, however, long enough to say one thing to the nurse.  
  
"That's her." 


	5. Chapter 5

In the car, sitting in traffic, still---  
  
Jess began his explanation that he knew would take her mind off her mom, but also eventually further incriminate him in her eyes.  
  
"Well, Jimmy's--- I, uh, my dad's--- wife's brother actually works on the board at Yale, and there was this weird beginning-of-Summer family reunion thing that they had---"  
  
"Ah, so you belong to one of THOSE kinds of families.." Rory said, attempting her old humor with him, to get herself out of the frame of mind she was in.  
  
"Yeah, exactly. And you can probably guess what I was doing while they were all doing that Brady Bunch bit."  
  
Rory managed a small smile. "Reading a book unnoticed in the corner..."  
  
"Basically. Me and my would-be half-sister or step-sister. She's actually a little like me. Anyway, the bookworm act caught the attention of one family member---"  
  
"The bookworm from Yale, obviously," she added helpfully.  
  
"Yes, the bookworm from Yale. We got into a stupid philosophical debate and he was impressed by my knowledge of the Greats, and got into talking about my future plans."  
  
"And when you told him you didn't really have any, he said, 'why, come to Yale! The college for all people who don't exactly care about the future!'"  
  
Jess stopped talking for a moment, and Rory stole a sideways glance at him. She put a loose piece of hair behind her ear. "Sorry. Just attempting humor to break the ice. I don't mean that. Go on. What did he say?"  
  
Jess let out a small laugh. "You don't have to apologize. That's exactly what I thought about this whole stupid thing. He basically said that it was a shame for my talent to be wasted, and told me he wanted to talk to me about school if I could get my GED by August. He seemed like.. I don't know... something about HIM wanting me to do well got me going, and I... I don't know, I just figured it couldn't hurt to get my high school diploma.."  
  
"True, true," Rory said.  
  
"So I got my GED and met with him. He basically made me swear my life away to him if he let me in. He pulled his strings up high on the board, and now he pulls my strings. I am his puppet and literally cannot let him down."  
  
Rory looked at him, square in the face. The traffic was moving faster now. "Well Pinocchio, does he know how you are with making deals with people? I believe you made a similar deal with Luke, who bent over backwards for you, and wanted you, also, to graduate high school, but you didn't do it when it was a deal between you two."  
  
Jess took a deep breath and looked at Rory for a moment before turning his gaze back to the road. "I owe Luke an apology. A really big, belated, I-was-the-biggest-ass apology."  
  
Rory allowed herself to give him a small smile and nod in agreement. "I think that would be wise," she eventually said.  
  
She continued on. "So basically you have to work overtime to do well at Yale, because you owe it to this guy who got you in..."  
  
"Right."  
  
"And it's your first day and you're already ditching," she noted, in a 'tsk-tsk' tone.  
  
"I had two classes today. I attended one. And my roommate's in the other. I'll be fine. Besides, this is important."  
  
Rory choked back a sob that was building, remembering why they were heading home to begin with. "Thank you."  
  
Jess just stared ahead at the road. "It's okay."  
  
Meanwhile at St. Marks's Hospital  
  
The nurse ushered a pale and flabbergasted Luke out of the room, and held the door open for the anesthesiologists who wheeled Lorelai past Luke and into the operating room.  
  
"Sir, why don't you just take a seat in the waiting room. I have to see to just a few things, and then I will be right with you and update you on her condition," she said kindly, pointing to the waiting area.  
  
Luke could not bring himself to make eye contact with her.. or anyone at that moment.. and just nodded and walked toward the waiting room. He didn't even see the other people in the waiting room; it was just luck that the chair he fell into happened not to be occupied.  
  
He bent over, putting his head in his hands, with an ambivalence of feelings running through him. That sense that she was somewhere unsafe, with no one she loved knowing where she was, was replaced with an odd sense of relief-odd because the relief was there, and it was practically bowling him over, knowing where she was, but with this relief came a new worry. Something was wrong with her. He didn't know what it was, but she looked so pale... so small... and she needed surgery.  
  
He lifted his head back up, and looked around, seeing various people in the waiting area on their cell phones. He grabbed his phone, suddenly, remembering all the other people involved that, like him, were beside themselves with worry over her mysterious disappearance. He knew that if any of them had found her first and he still didn't know where she was, he wouldn't want them so concerned with their own feelings that they didn't call him and let him know that she was... well, alive and in a specific, known location, if not completely okay. He dialed the number at the inn---  
  
At The Dragonfly----  
  
Sookie sat with her hand rested on the phone in case in might ring and let her know something that would allow her to release the breath she felt she'd been holding for about two hours. She jumped when the phone rang, and answered it somewhere in the middle of the first ring, screaming "HELLO!?....... Luke?"  
  
"Uh, Sookie, I found her. She's at St. Marks's Hospital and they've taken her into surgery.. I don't know what's wrong with her. I will call you as soon as I know something more. Can you--"  
  
"-I know, I know, I'll call the officers and Rory and Emily too. Luke, you shouldn't be there alone... Jackson and I will be right over, but in the meantime, you should call Nicole. She works right near---"  
  
"Uh, no, I don't think so. I'm okay."  
  
Luke looked up and saw the nurse making her way over to him.  
  
"Okay, I'll call you after."  
  
He hung up the phone and looked up at her, fearfully and expectantly.  
  
And at the Hartford Gilmore residence-  
  
Emily sat on the couch, watching her maids positioning a new statue in different places around the living room.  
  
"Oh can't you see that that obscures that wall completely?! It has no appeal over there. Oh, try it in that corner, just move the plant. I cannot believe that Lorelai completely ignored me. I could really have used her help with this---"  
  
The phone rang and one of her maids went over the answer it, while Emily rolled her eyes, annoyed that nothing was getting done the way she wanted today.  
  
"Ma'am, it's for you," the maid said, nervously.  
  
Emily rolled her eyes and walked to the phone. "Hello?" Her expression of stoic solemnity slowly changed to one of fear and concern, as her mouth dropped open slightly, of its own volition. "Well, yes, I understand. Thank you. I... I will be there right away." She hung up the phone, stared ahead for a moment. "Richard!"  
  
At St. Marks's Hospital-  
  
The nurse sat down in the chair next to Luke.  
  
"Sir, you look pale, are you okay?"  
  
He looked at her incredulously. "Am I.. is SHE okay?"  
  
She looked at him, and chastised herself for forgetting herself so foolishly... he had been so concerned. Obviously all he wanted right now was to know the condition of his friend. She cleared her throat.  
  
She began, "well let me just tell you straight off that she is going to be fine. The doctor is positive of this."  
  
Luke let out the biggest sigh of relief he had ever let out before. "What happened? What's wrong with her?"  
  
"Her appendix exploded. That can be very painful and probably caused her to pass out from the pain. She had appendicitis and didn't detect it, it seems. This happens sometimes, that a patient confuses the symptoms with food poisoning and a normal stomach ache, or other such scenarios. And usually people within 8-25 years are the target age range for getting appendicitis, but there are exceptions. It's obvious, actually, why she didn't seem to find herself a candidate. Anyway, the appendectomy is a routine surgery, and usually she would only have to stay in the hospital for about five days after the surgery, but because hers is now ruptured, it complicates things a little. She'll be here for almost a week and then put on antibiotics."  
  
She looked up at him... and saw him take let out a subtle sigh of relief and she felt very happy for him. "I'm just going to need some information about her... name and whatnot."  
  
"Oh, of course, of course," he said, ready to practically climb the walls with joy.  
  
"And your name?"  
  
"My name is Luke Danes. I'm.. I'm a friend of hers."  
  
"Luke? Huh," the nurse said, a smile forming on her lips.  
  
"Yeah, why?"  
  
"Well. Nothing... only that.. well, she regained consciousness momentarily before she went under anesthesia, and said your name."  
  
Luke's breath suddenly caught in his throat. He couldn't believe it.  
  
"Yeah, she said 'Luke'.. and then mumbled something about wanting more coffee. Eh, she was probably delusional from the---"  
  
Luke, despite the entire situation, let out a laugh, a real laugh--- smiling for the first time all day. "No, I don't think she was."  
  
"Okay, well, if you could come with me, I just need some information about her."  
  
He followed her, still smiling.  
  
"Oh, and also, she said something else after the whole coffee thing," the nurse said, looking at him over her shoulder. They approached the counter and she went to the opposite side of, looking for the paperwork to give him.  
  
"What's that?" he asked, now feeling on top of the world.  
  
"She said 'I love you.' Here you're gonna need to fill this out. It's just information about---"  
  
She took one look at him--- he looked like he was hallucinating and she rushed around the counter to steady him. All color had drained from his face.. and it had only just returned.  
  
"Are you okay, Mr. Danes?"  
  
"I.. I... uh," he started, but nothing coherent seemed to form. He felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach.. and it felt sort of great. 


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks so much for the words of encouragement, everyone! I really appreciate it!  
  
All disclaimers apply (aka- these characters ALL belong to Amy Sherman- Palladino)  
  
Length of Time Chapter 6  
  
"Okay, thanks Sookie," Rory said, hanging up the phone. "Okay, she just talked to Luke who told her that my mom is at St. Marks's Hospital. Her appendix exploded. She's in surgery right now-" She took a deep breath, trying to steady her quivering voice.  
  
"Well, that's good, they've found her. Plus, appendectomies aren't serious. Not usually---"  
  
"No, you're right. I... I mean, that's what Luke said the nurse said. She'll be fine, they said. But still, she's in surgery right now. I have to be there when she wakes up. I just---"  
  
"Well I wouldn't worry. We're only about a half hour away now. You'll definitely be there when she wakes up."  
  
Rory smiled--- not a real, heartfelt smile, but more one that agreed with him and appreciated his being there, and also was trying to reassure her about everything regarding her mom.  
  
"You know, Jess, this doesn't change anything."  
  
"Yeah, you mentioned that. Well, that's fine. I don't expect you to suddenly think that I'm Cassanova, or even a good friend to you. Because the fact of the matter is that I was a complete jerk in the end---"  
  
"A complete jerk," she agreed, looking out her window, at the familiar scenery that resided just outside her hometown.  
  
"I just noticed on campus that you were upset, and that you were heading for the parking lot, and believe it or not, I do care, and didn't want you to drive like that."  
  
"I believe you do care. I just think you have a funny way of showing it. I mean, you could have talked to me. Boyfriends talk to their girlfriends about what's on their minds, believe it or not. Even friends, if you wanna break it down even more, talk about their fears, concerns, thoughts, feelings, emotions and whatever else, to their friends. But you didn't talk to me, which was pretty crummy. It wasn't just YOUR relationship, you know. It was mine too. And I had a right to know---- I never asked for much, all I wanted was honesty. And you never gave me that. And because of that---- because you chose to leave--- run away---- I am mad at you. And I SHOULD be mad at you. And I am doing fine, on my own, and now you are at MY school! And I worked my ENTIRE life to be there! You didn't! You never cared! Not about that! And that makes me mad too!"  
  
Jess just nodded, in agreement, staring ahead. "It's a little too late for an apology, I guess---"  
  
"No, that's not completely true. I deserve an apology," she said adamantly.  
  
"That you do," he agreed.  
  
"And if we're gonna be seeing each other at least three times a week in Intro to Psychology, bad feelings should be gone, so we can both just concentrate on the class, with no awkwardness between us."  
  
"I am sorry. Really."  
  
She stared out the windshield and her hard gaze softened a little. "Well, all's not forgiven, but I accept your apology. But understand that once we get back to school, we're not gonna suddenly be chummy, best-pals or anything, and most certainly not anything more than friends---"  
  
"But friends---- we'll be friends?" he asked, casually.  
  
"I guess. Maybe acquaintances to start. And then friends later if it works out as acquaintances," she said resolutely.  
  
"Okay," he said, trying to hide his urge to smile at the feeling of hope he actually had just at that moment. "Sounds good."  
  
At St. Marks's Hospital----  
  
Luke sat patiently in the waiting room, feeling himself relax for the first time all day. She was fine. Well, she would be fine. And he would apologize. And everything would be okay, and he could finally lose the knot in his stomach for good. While he did feel better and very relaxed, he did still have that nagging knot. He couldn't figure out what that would be from, but he supposed it was from the lingering concern for her well-being, plus the fact that he still owed her an apology and things weren't yet right between them. Or it could be because.. maybe..it could have SOMETHING, he supposed, to do with what the nurse had said.  
  
"Could she have meant that she loved me?" he wondered. He convinced himself that she probably said his name in a prolonged delusion about coffee, and then thought about Rory or something and said 'I love you.' "Yeah," he thought. "That makes sense."  
  
Only it didn't. Make sense, that is. Because of what she had overheard earlier in the day between him and Nicole, before her attack, her mind was probably on him. And that was clear, as she did say HIS name. A small smile crept up his lips, as he toyed with the seemingly-possible idea that she may have said what the nurse said she said about, well, HIM. "But," he thought to himself, as an afterthought, "she WAS probably delusional at the time."  
  
"Ah, there you are! Tell me everything! EVERYTHING! Did you see her? Is she okay!?" the frantic voice of Sookie demanded, relieving Luke from his nervous, questioning thoughts, as he looked up to see Sookie and Jackson heading toward him.  
  
"Uh, the nurse said that she will be fine; that is a total promise from the doctor... and---" he looked up at Jackson, confused. "And didn't I already say all this on the phone?"  
  
"Yes you did, she just thought that it might be possible that someone who sounded just like you and knew someone named Lorelai in a similar situation may have POSSIBLY called the wrong number before, and she wouldn't believe anything until she could see you personally tell her," Jackson clarified.  
  
"Well, rest assured, *I* am telling you, for sure, that she will be okay. She's having a routine appendectomy with a little more complications, since her appendix was ruptured, but that will just mean that she is going to need more care AFTER the surgery."  
  
"More care she'll need, then more care she'll get," Sookie said, as Jackson guided her into a chair beside Luke. She was starting to look----and feel-- --a little better.  
  
The three of them sat in a comfortable silence, relieved at the news that their friend was going to be okay.  
  
"Luke."  
  
Luke looked up to see the concerned face of Nicole looking down at him, having just run into the hospital. His relaxed face suddenly became angry again, upon realizing it was her. He stood up and walked out of the waiting room, leading her away from Jackson and Sookie. He led her outside through the nearest exit in the hospital.  
  
And arriving on the scene at the hospital-  
  
Rory practically pulled the handle to jump out of the car before Jess had completely stopped it.  
  
"Okay, hold on, hold on."  
  
"I have to go," she said, starting to get wound up again, with the sight of the hospital surfacing all her emotions again, in full.  
  
"Okay," he said, pulling up to the front. "I'll go park the car,"  
  
Without another word, Rory jumped out of the car, the second it stopped, threw the door shut, and ran inside. She bolted in, looked around, and spotted Sookie and Jackson. They noticed her, running toward them, and Sookie greeted the crying Rory with open arms.  
  
"Oh, honey, hi!"  
  
"Is she out yet?" Rory sobbed.  
  
"Uh, no, but it's gonna be fine. She'll be just fine."  
  
Rory nodded. "I know. I just wanna see her."  
  
"I know, sweetie, me too," Sookie said.  
  
As sort of an attempt to break the ice, Jackson added, "So, Rory, how was your first day of classes?" in a conversational tone, as if nothing was wrong and he was her father or uncle or something.  
  
Through her tears, Rory let out a small laugh. "Oh, it was just perfect," she said, sarcastically.  
  
"And how's the new car driving?" Sookie asked, in a fake, over-eager tone, sharing in the sarcasm.  
  
"Couldn't be better," Rory said.  
  
Meanwhile, outside the hospital----  
  
Luke looked out toward the parking lot, and then turned suddenly to face Nicole, who was giving him a small, apologetic smile. "Why are you here? I thought I said----"  
  
"You did. You did. I just... I feel horrible about what happened and I wanted to be here for you," she said, looking up at him with a pleading look in her eyes.  
  
He looked past her, squinting his eyes a little in the sunlight. Despite his anger at Nicole, he still felt very calm. "How did you know she was here?"  
  
"I called the police station in the town where her car was. They told me that she was here. Is she okay?"  
  
Luke inhaled before continuing. "She's in surgery right now. But she'll be okay. It turns out, she passed out from pain when her appendix exploded. Yeah, if you had gotten out of your car for a second and peered in the window, you would have seen Lorelai, slumped over or something, completely unconscious."  
  
He didn't want to get angry at this thought again, but it was happening. He was inevitably growing angry again, at everything that happened at the beginning of the day.  
  
"Luke, I am so sorry. I had no idea. I mean, I was in a rush to get to work. I was running late due to the argument WE were having actually---"  
  
"The argument YOU started, you mean?"  
  
Nicole opened her mouth to say something, but he held up a hand. "I wanted to talk to you about the argument actually. My anger.. and my frustration... and I am not just saying this because of what's happening now..they weren't for HER. They were for you. Everything I said was to just make you shut up and leave me alone about Lorelai. I was mad at YOU. Not her. I didn't mean anything I said. I just wanted you to DROP it already."  
  
She just stared at him, not allowing herself to feel hurt, as she still felt very guilty about everything that happened today. "Okay. That's fair. I HAVE been annoying about your friendship with Lorelai. I was childish and had petty jealousies, and I won't bother you about it anymore. I swear. I just----"  
  
"No, you won't bother me about it anymore. Nicole, this isn't gonna work."  
  
"No, Luke, don't say that. I mean, I was wrong and I am willing to admit that. Just please, give me---"  
  
"Nicole, if you brought out the best in me and we had a small argument, I would say, 'yeah, we should work through it,' but the truth is, you brought out the worst in me today. For you, in some way, I acted like a horrible friend to one of my best friends. This.. it's just not gonna work. And I don't wanna see you anymore."  
  
She gave him a sympathetic smile, as if to say that she understood, and just looked at him for a moment. "Well, I guess this is goodbye, then."  
  
She reached up to give him a kiss on the cheek, but he turned his head, and gently moved away. "Goodbye," he said.  
  
"Goodbye," she said, surprise and disappointment evident in her voice. She turned and walked away, leaving Luke standing there alone for a moment.  
  
He was just about to turn to go back inside, when someone else called his name, nearby.  
  
"Jess? What are you doing here?"  
  
"I drove Rory here."  
  
"YOU drove her.. why, what.. um, I don't..."  
  
"It's sort of a long story, but to save a little time, I go to Yale now," he said, starting to smile. After a moment, Jess added, "You're not saying anything. Are you surprised?"  
  
"You know, you'd think I would be. But when it comes to you, little surprises me," Luke said, giving a small, signature Jess-grunt, looking at him intently, noting that he looked good. He looked like he was doing okay. He seemed.. relaxed.  
  
"I guess I could see that," Jess agreed, nodding. He motioned toward the hospital. "So.. she's okay, right?"  
  
Luke put a hand on the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah, she will be."  
  
"How about you?" Jess asked, to which Luke looked at him like he had dropped from another planet just moment before.  
  
After he composed himself, Luke said, "I'm okay. Thanks." He managed a small smile at his nephew, and started to walk back into the hospital, Jess falling into stride with him.  
  
"Good job, by the way, getting rid of that other one. She kind of annoyed me."  
  
Jess had glanced back at the parking lot, indicating he was obviously talking about Nicole and had probably witnessed some of their conversation moments ago. Luke let out a small laugh-grunt, in obvious agreement, although he was reluctant to discuss this with Jess. All Luke said, however, was "Well. Yeah."  
  
Luke and Jess walked silently back to the waiting area, but before they had a chance to sit down, the nurse came over toward them, and addressed Luke.  
  
"Well, she's out."  
  
At once, everyone stood up, and the woman looked nervously at the six people that were hovering over her suddenly. She swallowed, and tried to put on her best smile.  
  
"Um, she's not awake yet, but everything went perfectly. It took a little longer than expected, but she's going to be just fine. A little sore, but fine, nonetheless. If you'll excuse me..." she said, excusing herself.  
  
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief in unison, and sat back down. Luke stayed standing, though. He couldn't sit just then. He walked over to the counter.  
  
"When do you think she'll wake up?"  
  
"It could be an hour or so from now."  
  
"Do you think I could see her now? While she's asleep? Just. just for a minute?"  
  
The woman smiled, she had a feeling about this. "Okay. But just for a minute. And don't talk, or if you do, whisper. She needs her rest. I don't want you waking her."  
  
"Okay," he simply said, and she ushered him toward her door. 


	7. Chapter 7

All disclaimers apply (aka the show and ALL its characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino!)  
  
And, again, thanks everyone for the words of encouragement!!  
  
Length of Time Chapter 7  
  
Luke walked into the room, and saw Lorelai for the first time today without feeling like the world as he knew it, and liked it, was ending. She was just lying there and looked so small.. and still a little pale. He sat down in a chair by her bed. Then he stood up again. And he looked at her again, and sat down again. He dared just then to look at her. Really look. He watched her steady breathing and expressionless expression, and although he knew she was okay now, he couldn't bare to see her like this. In a hospital. Not talking a thousand miles a minute and drinking coffee to her deathbed. "Ooh," he thought. "Not the best thing to think right now."  
  
He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He didn't want to risk waking her, quibbling around like a nervous wreck. He looked down at the floor and then, slowly, back at her face, which was resting toward him.  
  
He realized how much he wanted to see her eyes. Just her eyes. Those animated, lively eyes which so rightly personified her. He just wanted to see them, to know she was okay again. He felt that as soon as he would see her eyes, he'd then know. Know she was okay, know she was going to stay okay, and know if she would forgive him. And he also wondered if maybe those eyes would tell him more.  
  
He tried to think of something to say, and opened his mouth many times in attempts, but just kept closing it, telling himself that this wasn't because he was scared, but because he just didn't want to wake her. He heard a noise, and popped his head up to see the nurse peek her head in, and then back out again, so to tell him to hurry up.  
  
He stood up again and looked down at her. She looked so peaceful, he mused. And so beautiful. He smiled a small smile down at her, and decided to just say whatever came to his mind, without screening his thoughts so much. "I love you," he whispered, practically, as it was very barely audible, and he inhaled after he said it and raised his eyebrows slightly, in surprise. He couldn't believe he said it..and he couldn't believe it was so easy. He just looked down at her and smiled again at her still and clearly sleeping form before walking back out into the hallway.  
  
Meanwhile, in the hallway-----  
  
Rory was curled up in a chair, with a notebook on her lap, writing on her own, while Sookie leaned on Jackson's shoulder. No one was really talking, but there wasn't any need. Everyone felt at ease and peaceful, and was just enjoying the companionable silence of the moment.  
  
"Already doing Leafus's reflection?" Jess asking, sitting in a chair next to Rory. She looked up briefly, shielding her page from his prying eyes.  
  
"Uh, well, making an outline for what I want to discuss. I'm just writing down some thoughts I have about it, and just things I am thinking about right now," she answered.  
  
"What other classes did you have today?" he asked---- not in a way that suggested he was actually interested, but moreso in a way that implied he just wanted to talk to her, and it was all he could think of to say.  
  
"I had an introductory journalism course and a Freshman English course. But Paris actually was in that one too. So, she'll take good notes. Believe me," she said, straight-faced.  
  
"I believe it. So... you have to see her during two classes, like three times a week? That's seeing her six times a week. That's a lot," he said-- -- but it was obvious that he was trying too hard, to talk to her.  
  
"You have no idea," she said elusively, staring at her notebook again.  
  
He nodded, noticing that she was starting to write in the notebook again. He decided he didn't want to bother her anymore and was about to get up, when she, keeping her face toward the notebook, looked sideways at him, with her eyes. She looked back at the notebook and kept writing as she said, "I just mean that we actually ended up living together this year also."  
  
He allowed himself a small smile and looked at her. "Really?"  
  
"Yeah, we are officially now like the Saved by the Bell kids. We went to high school together and have ended up at the same college, in the same dorm, taking the same courses," she said, in a humorous monotone voice.  
  
"The only difference is, they were all like best friends in high school," Jess said.  
  
"Good one," she said, smiling. "And very true."  
  
He sat back and relaxed as she kept writing in her notebook.  
  
"Where is my daughter!?" a shrill tone broke through the comfortable silence that was permeating the waiting room. Rory looked up and saw her grandmother harassing a nurse. She ran toward them.  
  
"Her name is Lorelai Gilm----"  
  
"Grandma," Rory said, giving the nurse a look that said "get away! Get away now!"  
  
"Ah, Rory," Emily said, trying to feign strength and indifference, and not show she was even upset at all. But Rory knew better and drew her into a hug. Emily rested her hand on Rory's back and shut her eyes. After a few moments, Rory pulled back.  
  
"She's out of surgery and she's okay. But she's still asleep. We're just waiting for her to wake up."  
  
Emily made a quick move to wipe a tear that had formed in the corner of her eye, and nodded at Rory. She decided to change the subject.  
  
"So, how's the new car driving?"  
  
Rory smiled. "Oh, it's driving. I'm living proof. It got me all the way here today. And all the way to Yale last week."  
  
Emily beamed at her granddaughter. "Well, good to hear."  
  
And back in the waiting room-----  
  
At some point, between Rory's writing in her notebook and Emily's loud arrival, Luke had slipped back into the waiting room and taken a seat beside Jackson. They were just sitting there, peacefully, and Luke just quietly thought about seeing Lorelai. He rested his elbows on his knees and thought about everything that had happened.  
  
He knew the next time he would see her, she would be awake. And then he would have to have something more to say to her than all of the NOTHING he said back in the room. Well, he did say one thing, and he couldn't believe he had said it. He knew, deep down, that he always loved her. But lately he had grown to think that his love for her was always friendship, mixed with the obvious attraction to her, as she was very attractive. But he had been starting to think it wasn't really... well, love.  
  
But after today, he'd never been more sure of anything in his life.  
  
"Okay, Michel, thanks," Sookie said, as she hung up the phone. She turned to Jackson. "So, he's called in for a temporary chef for today, and said the guests are really enjoying themselves!"  
  
"Oh good," Jackson said happily.  
  
"Okay, so on to the next matter of concern," she said, now addressing everyone, not just Jackson.  
  
"Which is..." Jackson said, encouraging her to continue.  
  
"Lorelai, of course," she said.  
  
"What about her?" Rory said, now turning toward Sookie too.  
  
"Well, she is living alone right now, but she needs a lot of care next week when she is out of the hospital. She has to stay somewhere," Sookie explained.  
  
"Oh, well, I can let my professors know that I will be staying home for the next few weeks and explain. I can arrange to have notes taken for me----" Rory started, to which Luke, Sookie and Emily all declared, strongly, "No!"  
  
Rory looked at the three intense faces, staring at her. "Tough crowd," she muttered to herself. Then to everyone else, she asked "now what is the matter with my suggestion?"  
  
"Only that Lorelai would never let you miss your first two weeks of school to take care of her," Sookie said, very matter-of-factly.  
  
"Well that may be true, but she needs to have someone there all the time, and I already have a room reserved at her place, for whenever I choose to stay, and I happen to choose right now," she declared, in a proud, yet calm tone, that felt confident she had stumped them all.  
  
"I'd say she could stay with us, but the place is a jungle with baby stuff everywhere and Sookie needs taking care of, herself," Jackson pointed out, to which Sookie nodded reluctantly. She wanted to take care of her best friend, but she was in no condition to do it well.  
  
"Oh, well, this is silly. She can stay with us when she gets out," Emily chimed in, to which everyone looked at each other, panic rising within them.  
  
They all knew that if Lorelai woke up and learned that not only she would be in the hospital during the opening week of the Dragonfly but THEN going to Hartford to live with her parents... in her old bedroom... having dinner with them SEVEN days a week, she would kill each and every one of them... slowly and painfully.  
  
They all started saying, in the nicest voices they could muster up at her suggestion, "ah, no, I don't think.."  
  
"I am staying home from school. It's fine. It's settled," Rory said, resolutely.  
  
Luke stood up and looked at Rory. "No, Sookie's right. Lorelai won't LET you do that. And it makes no sense for you to do that. I... uh, I'll stay with Lorelai, if it's okay with her."  
  
He could see Emily start to protest. "It's just.. Hartford's so far away, and she might wanna visit her inn next week," Luke explained, as everyone breathed a silent sigh of relief and nodded in agreement, looking as though they hadn't thought of that, but he made a very interesting point.  
  
"I can stay in Rory's room.. if that's okay," Luke started.  
  
"Uh, sure, that's fine by me," Rory answered.  
  
"... and then just make sure she's okay until she can do everything on her own," Luke said, beginning to feel embarrassed, as if everyone could read his face and thoughts. He looked down just then, wanting the earth to open up beneath him and just swallow him in.  
  
Rory smiled at his shyness and in a way that implied she was impressed, and then nodded, addressing everyone else "well, I think it's a good idea."  
  
"Yes, I suppose," Emily said, looking more like a child who was just punished unjustly, rather than a concerned mother.  
  
"I think she's starting to wake up," the nurse said, coming over to them, chiming into their conversation, suddenly.  
  
Everyone looked at Rory. Her face got a little more serious then, and she grabbed her notebook and followed the nurse into the hospital room.  
  
Rory opened the door and walked in very quietly. She saw her mother lying there.. moving a little, but still out of it. She sat down and just waited for her. Rory started looking around the room, at the monitors, and the sterile-looking walls and stillness of everything. She listened to the sound of her mother's steady breathing, and all of a sudden, started getting emotional again. She stared down at her notebook, starting to sob a little more outwardly.  
  
"Oh my God, I've died and I am looking down at my own funeral," Rory heard a voice say. She looked up and saw Lorelai looking at her. Her voice was raw and scratchy, but held all the humor that WAS Lorelai Gilmore.  
  
"Oh God. Only ONE person came to my funeral? I mean, I wasn't hoping for the Pope or Elvis Presley, or even the entire town, but.. I won't lie... I did kind of always harbor a secret desire that more than ONE person would come to my funeral. I mean, it's the final goodbye! And this church is so ugly!"  
  
"Mom!" Rory shrieked, now laughing through her tears. "Stop, stop, it's not your funeral!"  
  
"I know, honey," Lorelai said, now smiling at her daughter, but getting more serious. After a moment, she decided to ask, "sooo... what happened? Why exactly am I here and in ever so much pain?"  
  
"Luke was right. It's the coffee, mom," Rory said, very seriously.  
  
Lorelai dropped her mouth open. "Don't even joke about that!"  
  
"Well, actually, your appendix exploded. Mom, didn't you know something was wrong? Appendicitis doesn't just creep up on you all of a sudden."  
  
"Ah, so THAT was what that incessant and annoying, might I add, pain in my stomach was all about. I thought it was pain from the emptiness that is now my life since you've gone away," Lorelai said, now starting to slowly, and painfully, sit up and smile at her daughter. Rory shot her a look. "Okay, okay, I thought it was food poisoning."  
  
"You only really eat at Luke's or Sookie's food," Rory pointed out. "And you know they wouldn't poison you."  
  
"True, true. But there was this one night that I ate some fast food on my way home for the night, and I figured----"  
  
Lorelai trailed off when she realized that Rory was starting to cry again.  
  
"Oh, honey, don't cry, I'm okay," she said, wishing she could get up and hug her, like she would normally do if Rory were crying in front of her. But in truth? She couldn't really move.  
  
"I know you're okay. But....but I was really scared. You know, Sookie called me, and..and there were cops involved, and no one knew where you were, and, and Luke closed the diner---"  
  
"He closed the diner?" Lorelai said, very confused. "And there were cops? Was.. was I on the show COPS?"  
  
Rory shook her head at her mother. "No, you were not on TV. No one knew where you were. It was really scary. And.. and I wrote down some thoughts about how I felt."  
  
"I should have known you'd find an intellectual way to handle your fear and nervousness. Okay, let's have it," Lorelai said, resting her head.  
  
Rory cleared her throat and looked at her mom. "Okay." She looked down at her notebook. "Well today I think my life changed," she read. "I found myself at about ten past nine with my biggest problem being that I had to spend an entire period staring at an ex-boyfriend, who ended up going to my school----"  
  
"Dean goes to Yale?"  
  
"Jess. So.."  
  
"JESS goes to YALE!?" Lorelai said, in her best attempt at yelling, but it came out more like a very angry whisper.  
  
"Mom, I am pouring my heart out here!" Rory said, stomping a foot on the floor.  
  
"Right, sorry," Lorelai said, making a mental note to find out about that later.  
  
"When we did this exercise, I felt that my world was crumbling. That life was so unfair. That all I wanted was to forget this person. And that this was the longest stretch of time anyone should ever have to suffer such a travesty. And then class was over, and I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. Until I found out that someone I care about more than anyone else in the world was missing.. and possibly hurt, and I realized that I was being childish before. If my biggest problem had to do with having to see someone who I was simply mad at, then my life was pretty good. Because all my loved ones and friends were okay in the world, and my world, as I know and like it, was okay. It was better than okay. It was perfect. But my life REALLY fell apart for the hours that ensued in which I thought that something.. that something horrible.. could have happened to my mom, who also happens to be my best friend. The length of time she was.. well, the length of time that she wasn't okay.. THAT was the longest stretch of time for me, and the time it took me to realize where the weight of the world really lies for me. And it's only now, just been lifted," she finished.  
  
Lorelai smiled at Rory and held out her hand to her. Rory took it and held it, smiling. "You know," Lorelai said, quietly and seriously. "A simple 'I love you' would have sufficed."  
  
Rory rolled her eyes and laughed with her mother, relishing in the moment.  
  
And in the hallway----  
  
Luke was flipping through a pamphlet, when he read something and did a double take. He jumped out of his seat and ran to the counter, where the nurse was writing something on a clipboard. She smiled when she saw him run up.  
  
"Yes, Mr. Danes."  
  
"I was just reading this thing about stomach surgeries, and it says that when patients are recovering, there are a few things they should stay away from, and one of them is coffee."  
  
"Yeah. That's right. It could upset her stomach," the nurse said, confused at his dilemma.  
  
"Yeah, but I may be the person watching her next week, and if I have to deprive her of coffee, SHE could upset my FACE," he said.  
  
'Uh, Luke, you can go see her now, if you want to," Rory said, breaking in. The nurse used the distraction to get back behind the counter and picked up the phone. Luke looked at Rory confused.  
  
"Uh, wouldn't it make more sense for your grandmother to go in next, I mean, she's her moth----"  
  
"Luke! Use your head! The woman is in pain right now!" she said, looking disappointed that he would even suggest such a thing.  
  
He smiled. "Yeah, sorry... how is she?"  
  
Rory shrugged.. "She's being.. Lorelai," she said.  
  
"Oh God.. Wish me luck," he said at an attempt at humor, but it was clear that he was nervous to go in.  
  
He turned to walk into Lorelai's room.  
  
"Good luck, Luke," Rory called after him, smiling. He didn't look back, but as he turned the knob, he heard her words and hoped that luck was enough to give him strength to say everything he wanted to. 


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks for all the encouragement!!!!! It is so nice!  
  
And all disclaimers apply-Amy Sherman-Palladino owns this ALLLL..  
  
Length of Time, Chapter 8  
  
"Ahhhh," Rory, thought, drinking water from the water fountain in the hallway, outside of her mother's room. "Now this hits the spot."  
  
"Well it's good to see you've got some color back in your face," a familiar voice said, and she stood and turned to be faced with Jess.  
  
"Well, seeing her made me feel better. She's definitely... well, her. And it showed me she was okay."  
  
"So, are you going back tonight? To Yale, I mean?"  
  
"I don't want to go back tonight. I'd like nothing more than to stay here all night, in case she wakes up and wants to talk, but I've already asked the nurse all about bending the rules about visitors hours, and she didn't seem to think that my inclination to talk to my mother was reason enough. I'm still working on another scenario. I was thinking about claiming to be Siamese twins, but joined at the heart. I'll just say that we HAVE to be together at all times."  
  
"Might be hard to convince her of it from the hallway," Jess quipped, to which Rory shot him a skeptical look.  
  
"Don't stomp on my genius, I'm still working out the kinks of that plan."  
  
"Do you.. uh... " he looked at her face, which was clearly waiting for him to finish his sentence. "Nevermind."  
  
"Jess. Come on now, just say it. Remember? We are past awkwardness and are, at the very least, good acquaintances. Now do I..."  
  
"----wanna go for a walk? It's just.. you've been here for awhile, and it's sort of depressing, and you'll probably be here for awhile longer, and I just thought----"  
  
She cut him off and smiled. "Yeah. That would be good," she said.  
  
Meanwhile, in other parts of the hospital...  
  
Luke walked into the room slowly. And quietly. Lorelai didn't even turn toward the door, most likely not hearing that someone was there. She was still sore and out of it, and had her face resting the opposite way toward the now-empty chair. He walked until he was at the foot of the bed, where he just stood and watched her.  
  
Lorelai finally felt someone's eyes burning a hole into her and turned her head. Upon seeing Luke, she smiled at him. She noticed he seemed nervous at seeing her like this, but he managed a small smile nonetheless.  
  
After uncomfortably looking at Lorelai for a few, eternal, moments, he put his hands in his pockets and pretended to find the wall to her direct right very interesting. She looked at the wall he was staring at.  
  
"Imagine how exciting that wall would be if there were actually something on it," she said, breaking the ice. He turned to her and smiled. He noticed the scratchiness of her voice. "Sorry," she said touching her throat with her hand. "I keep pushing this button, to get the nurse to bring me water, but she doesn't seem to care about my aquatic needs."  
  
"Your aquatic needs?" he repeated, fighting the urge to laugh just then. He turned toward the empty bed that was on the side of the room by the door, and saw it slowly move forward a little, and then back a little more. And turned back toward Lorelai's bed and noticed her punching that button, dramatically.  
  
"Uh, I don't think you're gonna get the nurse's attention with that," he said, pointing toward the moving personless bed next to her.  
  
"Ah, well why is this next to ME?" she asked, placing the remote down, and moving a little, in an attempt to get herself comfortable.  
  
"Looks like the wires are all mixed up between the two beds," he explained, staring now at all the wires on the floor, like they were doing a tap dance or something.  
  
She moved in a way that sent a shooting pain to the area of her stomach where they operated, and winced in pain.  
  
Luke noticed this and moved to the side of her bed, by the chair, nervously.  
  
"Down boy, I'm okay," she said, holding a hand up to him, to let him know she was okay. "Luke, sit down, you're making me nervous."  
  
He sat down obligingly and looked at her expectant face. She had her eyebrows raised, like she was expecting him to say something. He stood up again, and walked back to the foot of her bed. She watched him walk there, away from her like she was a disease or something and looked at him confusedly. He noticed her expression and walked back and sat down again, putting his elbows on his knees, looking at his shoes for a few moments before looking back up at her.  
  
"God, Luke, if I knew you were gonna come in here with nothing to say, I'd have had Rory write you up something," she joked, which only produced a confused look from him. "Duh," she thought to herself. "He doesn't know Rory was in here ten minutes ago reading a memoir to me out loud."  
  
She realized he wasn't going to relax any time soon, so she decided to try to force him to converse with her in the only way she knew how---- engage him in ridiculous banter.  
  
"So, you tried to warn me that someday my addiction to coffee would kill me. But I wouldn't listen."  
  
He smiled at her. "Ah, so does this mean that now you'll take my advice and stay away from it, because this would make my job a lot easier."  
  
"Ha. No. Actually, I am totally kidding. That rotten kid of mine actually had the gall to joke with me that it was your coffee that put me here. I mean, talk about unsupportive. What job are you talking about?"  
  
"Well, it turns out that one thing you'll have to stay away from for a few weeks is.. well, coffee. Yeah, and I hate to be the one to tell you that. But maybe it'll serve a higher purpose in the end."  
  
"That's funny, Luke. You and Rory should get an act together and go to Vegas, because you are THAT funny!" Lorelai said, leaning her head back and looking at him. He just regarded her with that smile that was always reserved for her. "I mean, you'll slip me some, right? Luke, if there is a heart behind all that flannel, you will truly and most definitely slip me some. I mean, you can disguise it as water--- put it in an Aquafina bottle- --"  
  
"Black water----"  
  
"---- and just tell that nice nurse lady that YOU are meeting my aquatic needs, but only you and I will really know the truth. It can be our little.. thing."  
  
"As fantastic as it seems, giving you the one thing that I hate giving you, when I actually have a medical reason not to give it to you ---- I am gonna have to decline. I am gonna, instead, opt to help your health. Call me heartless, but that's what I'm gonna do. THAT can be our little....thing. Getting you better."  
  
"Don't I already look better?"  
  
"Well. you look like you're in pain," he said, more seriously now.  
  
"Eh, a little. But nothing compared to the pain of this deprivation that you masquerade as candor and concern for me. Okay, Luke? You have GOT to stop looking at me like I am a ticking time bomb! I mean, I don't have a mirror with me right now, so I am not sure what I look like, but I am well aware that my hair is probably a mess and I am not wearing makeup, and this hospital gown is hardly flattering, but you don't have to look so terrified of me----"  
  
"Lorelai----"  
  
She took a small breath and looked at him.  
  
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be looking at you like you're.. terrifying.. but.." he stopped and looked around.  
  
"But what, Luke? I don't think it's a big mystery here that you are completely weirding me out.."  
  
"I.. I'm glad you're okay," he started.  
  
"Thank you. I'm glad too."  
  
"Lorelai, I know you were in the diner this morning and heard what I said to Nicole."  
  
That got her attention. She looked at him squarely, no comeback ready for that one.  
  
"Babbette," was all the explanation he offered.  
  
"I should have known. I saw her sitting there, nibbling pancakes," she said, scrunching up her face, like she was imagining an attack on the crazy, well-intentioned neighbor.  
  
She looked at him, looking like he was trying to find the right words. She rested her head back, to listen.  
  
"I need you to know, that I didn't mean anything I said-----"  
  
"Luke, you don't have to----"  
  
"I really do have to. I have needed to apologize all day. But this... well, this has been the day from hell. You know, next time your appendix decides to explode, please make it, like in my diner or something, so we could get you to the hospital ASAP and avoid a lot of... well, let's just categorize it all under the name 'drama.'"  
  
"Okay. But Luke? I don't think there's gonna be a next time. Yeah, those nasty doctors, the ones who don't want me to have coffee and are basically out to get me? Yeah, they took my appendix, and I'm not sure they're giving it back."  
  
"From the sound of it, I don't think you'd want it back."  
  
"It WAS a real pain toward the end," she agreed.  
  
"You had no idea you had appendicitis?"  
  
"I thought it was food poisoning."  
  
He grunted. "And you didn't tell anyone?"  
  
"If I told you I thought I had food poisoning, would you have rushed me to the hospital, thinking it might be appendicitis?"  
  
"Well, no. But when you disappeared, I might have crossed the option out of my mind that some crazed trucker stole you and was keeping you for ransom. I might have considered that it was related to that stomach problem you kept mentioning and you were at a hospital somewhere," he stated.  
  
"From now on, I will keep you up to date on any remotely odd symptom that I have. About anything."  
  
Luke nodded and looked at her. She smiled at him, in a way that let him know that she was okay, and she wasn't mad at him. But he wouldn't let himself off the hook. He knew he had to apologize before HE could feel better about this.  
  
"Lorelai, I want you to know, I didn't mean anything I said. Nicole... she was always asking me questions about our friendship, and... and it got really annoying and frustrating, and I wanted to shut her up about the whole thing. But that doesn't ..I ...I shouldn't have said anything anyway. All the qualities that I held against you..they are the things that are so, YOU, so Lorelai Gilmore. And I wouldn't change them. You know, I said that I wouldn't care if you never came into the diner again---- -"  
  
"Ah, yes, I do remember something about that----"  
  
"----and.. and if you never came into my diner again, I would live the dullest existence, and eventually go mad from it..."  
  
"And what about calling me exasperating?" she asked.  
  
"Well, you can be exasperating," he said.  
  
"And, and about getting under your skin.."  
  
"Oh, you definitely do that. But in all fairness, I try very hard to get under your skin too sometimes," he said.  
  
"And you accomplish that as well. You do that very well sometimes. This whole coffee thing, for example----"  
  
"I know.. well, I am sorry. Really sorry." He stopped, and then decided to add, as an afterthought, "and, me and Nicole, that's over."  
  
"Luke, you didn't have to break up with her! I mean, I know this is has been a really dramatic day, but----"  
  
"You know, you weren't brought into the hospital until after two this afternoon, and Nicole saw your car on the side of the road around nine- thirty and didn't stop."  
  
Lorelai looked straight ahead of her and made a little face. "I guess I'll cross her name off my Christmas card list this year," she said.  
  
Ignoring her attempt at humor, he barreled on. "You are one of my best friends, Lorelai," he started, which prompted her to look back at him. "And what I said made me a bad friend... and even though I shouldn't have said it, SHE brought that out in me. And I... well, it's over. That's all."  
  
"I'm sorry, Luke," she said, staring ahead.  
  
"Don't be. You have no business apologizing in the middle of my apology."  
  
"Well, I'm sorry to apologize in the middle of your apology, but you have no girlfriend right now, and in a small, indirect way, or let's just say it, a big, direct way, it's because of me. So I can apologize if I want to. And I'm sorry----"  
  
"Twice she apologizes in the middle of my apology. You see? This is an example of you getting under my skin!"  
  
She smiled, proud at herself. "Wow, I wasn't even trying."  
  
He smiled at her. "I'm really glad you're okay," he said, trying to keep his emotions intact. But just then, looking at her smiling back at him... from that hospital bed, looking so small, and not bouncing around like her usual self, his emotions were starting to surface in him.  
  
"I know you are, Luke," she said, seriously.  
  
"I was really scared before and would like to never repeat this day again, if that's okay by you."  
  
She noted the pain in her stomach. "More than okay by me," she agreed.  
  
He stood up. "You should rest. I'll send your mom in."  
  
"You did not just put those two sentences together."  
  
"She's here, and wants to see you," he said.  
  
She just pouted at this inevitability. "This is so unfair. I am in no condition to climb out the window."  
  
He smiled back at her, and started to leave the room. She grabbed his hand, quickly, and he looked down at her, feeling like his heart caught in his throat, at the unexpectedness of her action.  
  
"Luke, Rory said you closed the diner today. And that's all well and good, considering, but as you can see, I'm okay. And a lot of people, myself included, are being deprived of your amazing coffee right now and you're losing business. You don't have to sit here all day, it's okay, you should go back and open it up. Salvage the business of a good dinner crowd----"  
  
He simply gave her hand a little squeeze, smiled and said "not today," before walking out of her room.  
  
As he entered the hallway, the voice of Emily Gilmore could definitely be heard, as she was harassing the nurse again. He shut the door, quietly, so that Lorelai would be left in the peace of her room, without fuss.  
  
"I'm sorry, but she is going to need to rest for another hour or so before she can have another visitor," the nurse was explaining.  
  
Emily glared at Luke momentarily and then turned her attention to everyone else.  
  
"Well everyone, the ice man has ruined our chances of seeing her for at least another hour!" she said, to which Luke smiled to himself, and ducked, practically unnoticed, outside.  
  
The nurse used the opportunity to duck into Lorelai's room.  
  
"You, Ms. Gilmore, have a very loud following out there.. and they ask a lot of questions."  
  
"Ah, yes, well that is your own fault. You should have pretended not to speak English."  
  
"But I------"  
  
"No, no, it is the perfect excuse! I would use it myself except, my mother? I don't think she'd buy it," Lorelai said, smiling.  
  
"Well before she can come say hi to you, I'm afraid, you are going to have to rest."  
  
"Oh YOU, missy, are my hero! I think we have ESP or something. Do you think that this whole experience has somehow given you and me a sort of telepathy?"  
  
The nurse regarded her with a very confused face as she fixed her pillows and helped her settle into a comfortable position. "You aren't making sense. I definitely think you need rest," she said, as she walked out of the room.  
  
Once alone, Lorelai smiled, happy to be alone with her thoughts, which she soon realized were occupied by one person. She opened her eyes with a start, asking herself where those thoughts came from. 


	9. Chapter 9

Thanks for all the nice reviews!  
  
Disclaimers ALL apply! Amy Sherman-Palladino owns these people and places, and I do not, or Luke and Lorelai would be together already!  
  
Length of Time, Chapter 9  
  
Lorelai managed to put thoughts out of her head long enough to get some sleep. Before that, she tried to remember what happened before she passed out in the car, but she had a feeling she had been thinking about Luke, as she could not exactly get him out of her head. She figured she must have just been thinking about the incident in the diner with Luke and Nicole before she passed out.. but something told her it was something more, because she could not get the thought of him out of her head.  
  
"Eh," she told herself, "it's probably because I'm already missing the coffee." Then she allowed herself a nice little nap.  
  
She fell into a deep sleep, only to be woken up later by a loud shattering in the room. She opened her eyes to see Sookie, scrambling around on the floor, trying to pick up the pieces of glass she'd broken that belonged apparently to a vase of flowers she was trying to leave for her.  
  
"Oh god, I'm having that vision again of a pregnant woman crawling over a bed of flowers. I would LOVE to know what that means..." Lorelai started, groggily.  
  
Sookie looked up from the floor at Lorelai and smiled at her.  
  
"Sookie, get up off the floor. I don't want you crawling around with glass in your hands---- I mean, normally it's cute, but with you all pregnant, it's just disturbing."  
  
Sookie grabbed the side of the bed and stood up. "Well, I put myself next in line to see you, by default. Emily dozed off on Richard's shoulder."  
  
"EMILY dozed off? And... and on Richard's shoulder? That's so sweet, and unproper, and-----"  
  
"--- human, I know."  
  
"Well if I know my mother, I bet every doctor and nurse breathed a collective sigh of relief when sleep took her."  
  
"They did. They would've thrown a party, but it might have woken her up."  
  
They smiled at each other, and Sookie moved a stray piece of hair from off Lorelai's forehead.  
  
"So, Sookie, the big opening. Didn't I tell you it would be an unforgettable day?" Lorelai asked, smiling.  
  
"You did. And you were right. As long as I live, I'll never forget this day."  
  
"So.. where is everyone?" Lorelai casually asked.  
  
"Jackson is out getting dinner for us, your father is trying to read some document, but Emily's sleeping on him, so it's not exactly working. And Rory and Jess went outside awhile ago."  
  
"Oh. Was... was that everyone?"  
  
"Oh, and the nurse said she'd be in later to bring you some food."  
  
"Ah, good. I was curious about that."  
  
Sookie smiled at her, knowingly.  
  
"And I have no idea where Luke went. He left the hospital after he came in here," she added.  
  
"Ooh, I bet I know where he went!" Lorelai said gaily.  
  
"Really."  
  
"Yeah, but I can't tell you. It's our little... thing," Lorelai teased.  
  
"I was wondering how long it would be before you and Luke would have a little.. thing."  
  
"Not THAT kind of thing. It's purely a coffee thing, and that's all I will tell you, and DON'T you dare tell the nurse!"  
  
"They must have you on some pretty powerful medications if you think that Luke went to get you coffee," Sookie said, smiling. "So... how do you feel?"  
  
"I won't lie, I feel empty inside. I really miss that old organ. It was with me for thirty-five years, and now... now nothing," Lorelai said, pouting.  
  
"Well, honey, if it was still in you, you'd be in the ground by now. It's true, that thing would have killed you to get out."  
  
Lorelai sighed and rested her head back and then turned to Sookie, more seriously now. "Tell me.. how was it? Really."  
  
"Oh, honey, it was great! I mean, not great great, because you weren't there, and after two I wasn't there either, but Michel held down the fort, and called in a temporary chef and said the guests really were enjoying themselves."  
  
"Oh good! I felt so horrible, every time I regained consciousness, I felt so guilty for being late-----"  
  
"Please don't finish that sentence. Do you hear yourself? Honey, you have nothing to feel bad about. I'm just glad someone found you and took you here and that you're okay! I mean, are you? Really? How do you feel?"  
  
"I feel okay. I'm in a little pain, but hopefully I can be up and at it and working by Friday."  
  
"Friday? This Friday? Two days away Friday? Lorelai, you're gonna be in the hospital for practically a week, and then you need to take it easy for almost another week."  
  
Lorelai made a face and dropped her head. She picked it back up and looked up fearfully at Sookie. "Don't tell me that! I can't be out of commission for two weeks! The inn----"  
  
"Will be fine. You need to get yourself better, missy. You gave everyone quite a scare, you know."  
  
"Yet another thing I feel horrible about. I woke up before to Rory crying, and then Luke came in here and looked at me like I'd had plastic surgery and my face had been replaced with Captain Kirk's."  
  
Sookie made an understanding face. "So, I heard you got an earful this morning at Luke's."  
  
"Yeah. He was apologizing until he was blue before."  
  
"Well, he was really upset about it. Not even just that you overheard, but that he said that, even if it WAS to shut Nicole up."  
  
"I guess it didn't help much that when I finally turned up, it was in a hospital."  
  
"Well stop feeling horrible, you didn't know what was gonna happen. But just so you know why we were ALL so freaked---- First we didn't know where you were. Then some cops come into Luke's, having found your car abandoned on the side of ROUTE 58! Not the best place. And there is no sign of you. Your pocketbook was still inside! Finally Luke discovered you at St. Marks's, but you were heading into surgery, and no one knew why. The nurse hadn't talked to Luke yet about your condition. That gave an entirely new level to the stress."  
  
Lorelai covered her head with her hands embarrassedly during this explanation, feeling so guilty for all the emotions she caused everyone. She finally looked up at Sookie.  
  
"Well, at least now it's over," Sookie finished, taking Lorelai's hand. "And you're okay. And don't worry about the inn. It wouldn't feel like a true opening if something horrible didn't happen to make it more challenging than it already was."  
  
"Well that is entirely true. Always looking on the positive side," Lorelai smiled at her friend.  
  
"Okay, I'm gonna go get the nurse to get the glass."  
  
"Ah, but the flowers are beautiful. Thank you."  
  
Sookie kissed Lorelai's forehead and smiled. "You're welcome."  
  
As Sookie opened the door, Emily, followed by the nurse, entered.  
  
"Ah, you've awoken!" Lorelai said to Emily.  
  
"I was just about to say the same thing," Emily said, straight-faced.  
  
Sookie told the nurse about the glass that had spilled, while Emily further entered the room.  
  
"Where's dad?"  
  
"He'll be here in a minute, he's just calling some people.. he had something to tell them."  
  
"Well, that's the best reason to call people," Lorelai quipped, to which Emily just looked at her with no readable expression on her face.  
  
The nurse busied herself picking up the glass.  
  
"So, how do you feel?" Emily asked, with an air of indifference surrounding her.  
  
"Oh, never felt better. They have me doped up on so much meds, I can't even feel my toes, let alone my stomach," Lorelai said, at which point she wiggled her toes. "Well, nevermind that. But that's a good thing, if I couldn't feel my toes, that would be an entirely new problem."  
  
"Lorelai, be serious. How are you feeling?" Then, to the nurse, she added, "and can we get someone in here to draw these blinds, and get some sunlight in here, it's depressing like this!"  
  
"Mrs. Gilmore, the sun set over an hour ago."  
  
Emily just turned her head back to Lorelai, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Mom, I'm fine. Really. Sit down."  
  
Emily hesitated and looked around the room with an even grimmer and more serious expression.  
  
"I'm more than fine, actually. You know, I even heard someone say that I woke up before they administered the anesthesia and said 'this is both painless and interesting and will help me grow as a person'," Lorelai said, to which Emily just shot one of her signature-Emily looks at her.  
  
The nurse, before walking out of the room with the trash can of broken glass, turned and said with a coy smile, "that is definitely NOT what you said before the anesthesia."  
  
"What DID I say?" Lorelai asked, interested.  
  
The nurse just gave a small laugh. "Never mind."  
  
Lorelai regarded her with a skeptical expression. "Oh Nurse Lady, you and me should chat later. Let's say nine, my bed, we'll talk over coffee---"  
  
"Oh, no, Ms. Gilmore, I've been warned about you, and will not be swayed into bringing you coffee," the nurse said, exiting the room.  
  
"That woman!" Lorelai said.  
  
"Is her bedside manner okay? Because I can find you another nurse----" Emily started, defensively.  
  
"Mom, I've met her all of two times, and we've spoken about three sentences to each other. She's fine. And please sit down," Lorelai pleaded, her mother's restlessness making her agitated.  
  
"Fine," Emily said, taking a seat. "Honestly, Lorelai, how you didn't know that you had appendicitis---- I have known many people who have had it, and have checked themselves into the hospital after one day of pain because it was unbearable! No one has ever had to wait until it exploded, while they were driving, no less----"  
  
"Yes, mom, well to quote the late, but great, Frank Sinatra, 'I did it my way'. I could have checked myself into a hospital the other day when my stomach started hurting, but that is just so anticlimactic, so I figured if I could deal with it in the way that would be most inconvenient and horrible for everyone involved, THAT would be more fun for ME, because let me tell you, THIS is a picnic. It's the DEFINITION of a picnic!"  
  
"You and your jokes, Lorelai. This is serious!"  
  
"Mom, please, don't start yelling. I... I appreciate you coming to see me. Just, don't yell. You don't have to. I'm okay."  
  
"Well, you're really okay? How can I be sure?"  
  
"I'm torturing you, aren't I?" Lorelai asked, sweetly.  
  
"That's true. Are you in any pain?" Emily asked, trying, but to no avail, to hide her concern.  
  
"A little. But when these painkillers wear off, I'd stay out of my way!"  
  
"I'll let the doctors know that."  
  
Lorelai shifted a little, causing a little pain to go to the area of her scar. She winced, and Emily stood up and took a step so that she was beside Lorelai's bed. Lorelai smiled appreciatively at her mother and took her hand.  
  
"I'm really fine, mom."  
  
Emily allowed tears to enter her eyes, without pretending they weren't there. She smiled down at Lorelai momentarily before she remembered herself. She of course remembered the image of herself she wanted to get across, put her wall back up and took a step back from the bed, quickly swiping at her eyes, and sat back down, letting go of Lorelai's hand. Just then, Richard entered.  
  
"Ah, hello Lorelai," he said cheerily, as if he was just entering the dining room on any normal Friday night. "I just talked to an old friend of mine, Jim Morris. We were great friends years ago, and he actually had appendicitis when he was in his twenties. I remember it, and this whole thing reminded me of him, and I thought I'd give him a call!"  
  
"Glad I could be of assistance," Lorelai said, smiling at her father.  
  
"Is THAT what you were prattling on about?" Emily asked incredulously. "You couldn't come in here and talk to your daughter after her surgery because you needed to catch up with your old drinking friend NOW?"  
  
"Mom, it's fine, I'm not going anywhere, apparently, for a long time. He can visit me in three days and I'll still be here.. chilling on my own."  
  
"Great, let's do lunch in three days then!" Richard said happily, and Lorelai turned her head, thinking that her father never ceased to amaze her. "I'll have my secretary call you!"  
  
"Sure, you know where to find me. Room.. What room am I?" Lorelai trailed off.  
  
Emily spoke up. "Room 201. And Richard, what rush are you in all of a sudden? You only just entered!"  
  
Richard walked over and gave Lorelai a little kiss on the forehead. "And Lorelai looks wonderful! She's okay, and the nurse said that visitors hours are almost over. And Jim... he's in Hartford tonight. It's like this was all fated to happen on this very day."  
  
"Practically written in the stars," Lorelai agreed.  
  
"Well, come along Emily. We will visit Lorelai again, don't worry. You can come tomorrow and spend the whole day."  
  
"Dad, don't put ideas in her head," Lorelai said, more to herself than anyone.  
  
Emily shot Richard an evil glare that translated volumes for Richard and Lorelai: Richard was going to get an earful on the drive home. She then stood and looked down at Lorelai for a moment, looking for words.  
  
"I know, mom," Lorelai said, noticing the look on Emily's face. Lorelai held her arms out to her, and after a reluctant moment, Emily bent down and welcomed the embrace. She gently held Lorelai, so as to not hurt her, and then, stood back up avoiding eye contact.  
  
"I will see you tomorrow morning, Lorelai."  
  
"Oh, one more thing," Lorelai said. "Could you lend me a piece of paper and five dollars?"  
  
"You are NOT bribing the doctors to bring you coffee!" Emily stated.  
  
"That's not it, mom. I promise. And then send Sookie and Jackson in, please."  
  
Richard handed Lorelai an index card he had in his suit pocket, and a pen... and reached into his wallet and gave her a $20. Lorelai made a face of impression. "Well, I don't have change for you dad, so let's just say I owe you one," she said.  
  
"Lorelai, it's on me. We'll see you later!"  
  
"Yup, lunch, in three days. Room 203."  
  
"201," Emily corrected. "Bye, Lorelai. Get some rest!" she ordered, before leaving.  
  
Meahwhile, outside the hospital----  
  
"Okay, Jess, we've walked around the hospital approximately 4 times, and it's a big hospital, and you still have jumped around the only question I have asked you. All I want to know, is what you want to study now, at Yale. And don't say 'Nothing With Too Much Homework' again, because that is NOT a major!"  
  
"Well, it should be. I don't know. I'm taking all my intro courses right now. I thought maybe my major would find me," he answered, monotone.  
  
"Hm, that's banking a lot in fate," she mused.  
  
"Well, I am starting to bank a lot in fate lately," he said, quietly.  
  
"What do you mean?" she asked.  
  
"Nothing. Hey, you look cold," he said, taking off his leather coat.  
  
"No, I'm okay. Really.. "she started, but it was no use. He was handing her the coat, with a look on his face that said he wasn't giving in.  
  
"Jess," she started, putting the coat on. "I really appreciate today. I mean, it's not normal between us, so I can imagine it's been awkward for you too, plus you had to see Luke again..."  
  
"I think his mind was on something besides me today. It was actually a good time to catch him," he joked.  
  
"Yeah, that's true. It was a good day for you to resurface. No one had any energy to put into you," she agreed. "And I realize that you can't go back to Yale until I do. And I feel really bad about that! I mean, I don't know when I'm heading back, and you need to be there, going to class, and working hard-----"  
  
"--- you need to go back too and go to class and work hard."  
  
"But this is my MOM. You're stuck here because of me, and I choose to be here to be with HER. So, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that your first week of hard work and all that other good stuff is being complicated because of me," she started.  
  
"Where's the fun in an easy life?" he asked, with a small smile, looking sideways at her.  
  
She continued walking and smiled. "I guess. But I'd go without the drama of today any day."  
  
"Yeah," he agreed, as they walked away into the night, back toward the hospital.  
  
Meanwhile, in Room 201-----  
  
Sookie and Jackson walked into Lorelai's room, as she finished writing something on an envelope.  
  
"Lorelai, you look great!" Jackson said, running over and giving her a kiss on the cheek.  
  
"Aw, you're a good man, Jackson."  
  
"Well, honey, they're kicking everyone out now," Sookie said to Lorelai.  
  
"Okay, okay, I just wanted you to give this to Rory," Lorelai said, handing Jackson the envelope.  
  
"Will do," Jackson said with a smile. Sookie walked over and bent down, to give Lorelai a kiss on the cheek.  
  
Sookie and Jackson said goodbye to Lorelai and started out of the room.  
  
"Bye guys," Lorelai smiled back, as they walked out the door, leaving her alone.  
  
And again, outside-----  
  
Rory and Jess were just about to head inside, when they ran into Sookie and Jackson, who were heading out the door.  
  
"Hey, sweetie," Sookie said. "I was just about to go looking for you."  
  
"Yeah, we were just getting some fresh air," Rory explained.  
  
"Lorelai wanted us to give this to you," Jackson explained, handing over the envelope to Rory.  
  
"I was just about to go inside to see her," Rory said.  
  
"Visitors hours are over now," Sookie said. "But maybe the nurse will let you in real quick."  
  
"I plan on staying tonight. I'll think of something to say to her," Rory declared confidently.  
  
"Well, we'll see you later, honey," Sookie said, giving Rory a little hug. She and Jackson said goodbye to both Rory and Jess a final time before turning to leave for the night.  
  
Once they were gone, Rory opened the envelope and pulled out an index card with her mother's handwriting on it. She laughed and read it:  
  
"'Dear my sweet and wonderful daughter'", Rory started, rolling her eyes, smiling. "'I thought you had something going there, with that whole writing down your thoughts thing, so here I go. I know that you are probably planning on staying here all night, and probably tomorrow too, as you are the sweetest kid, and I just wanted to tell you... NO. I don't want you planning some elaborate story to get the nurse to let you stay. She'll never buy a story about us being Siamese twins, conjoined at the heart, or something like that----'"  
  
"How did she----" Rory started, astonishedly.  
  
"You two have a strange connection," Jess offered.  
  
Rory went back to the note. "'You are going to completely upset me if you miss more school on account of me. Please go back to Yale tonight and be there for your second day of class! And then your third.. which also happens to be Friday. On THAT day, you can come back to see me. I'll still be here. These people are out to get me, honey, they won't let me leave for a week, or drink coffee for two! But I want to give you a hug goodbye and realize that visiting hours are over. You'll notice that I have enclosed a little insurance policy to wave in Nurse Lady's face.'"  
  
Rory peered into the envelope and pulled out a $20, shaking her head.  
  
"'I will see you in a few, hopefully, where I will make you swear away your life that you will return to school safely tonight. I love you. Love, Me.'"  
  
Rory looked up to Jess. "Well, I hope the nurse accepts bribes," he said, laughing.  
  
"Of course she will. My mother and I have very persuasive ways."  
  
She turned and walked through the revolving door.  
  
"I know you do," Jess said to himself, looking after her, before walking in himself.  
  
In the hallway----  
  
The nurse who was handling one particular patient, by the surname Gilmore, breathed a small sigh of relief that visiting hours were over and her family and friends had gone home. But before she even finished taking the breath---  
  
"Nurse Lady!"  
  
"Oh boy," she said to herself. "Uh, visitors hours are over, but if you come back tomorrow----"  
  
"I just wanted to say goodnight to my mom," Rory explained.  
  
The nurse took a breath, getting ready to argue, when Rory pulled out the $20.  
  
"President Hamilton is yours, if you just give me a minute," Rory said.  
  
The nurse smiled. "One minute. And keep your money," she said shaking her head, as Rory entered.  
  
In Room 201----  
  
Lorelai smiled when she saw Rory enter.  
  
"And I didn't even have to use the insurance policy. But if I stay more than, oh, 60 seconds, I think she'll send those burly guards in after me," Rory said.  
  
"Ooh, but we like the burly guards! Well, I am more than impressed. You have made proud the Gilmore name. Is that Jess's coat?" Lorelai asked.  
  
"Uh, yeah. I was... we were getting. fresh air."  
  
"I see. Well I'm glad my exploding organs have been the source of so many reunions. Your grandfather was.. wow, I must be tired if I'm purposely talking about my parents. God, stop me when I do that!"  
  
"Dually noted. And Jess and I haven't 'reunited'. We are just talking again, since he goes to Yale now----"  
  
"About that----"  
  
"Well if I can only stay for," she glanced at her watch, "31 more seconds, I can't get into it now."  
  
"PROMISE me you'll go back to Yale tonight, call tomorrow, and the next day come see me, and NO sooner."  
  
"I don't like it, but I'll agree. You were very persuasive in your letter."  
  
The nurse popped her head in. "Miss Gilmore----"  
  
"Okay, okay," Rory said, walking over to her mother. She bent down and gave her a big hug. "You are NEVER allowed to drive alone again. I will call you tomorrow. Rest up. And I will see you in TWO days, and you better look well rested, and---"  
  
"Go!" Lorelai said, smiling at her daughter.  
  
Rory gave her one more big hug, and ran out. She greeted Jess with a smile. "Okay, let's go."  
  
They were heading out the door, when Luke bustled past them, almost not noticing them.  
  
"Luke, hey. Oh, visitors hours are over," Rory said, sympathetically.  
  
"Oh, right. Um, I just had to say something to the nurse."  
  
"Okay. Bye Luke," Rory said, before turning to leave.  
  
Jess just smiled knowingly at Luke. Luke looked uncomfortable all of a sudden.  
  
"Bye Jess. I suppose you'll be back in town this weekend?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well, I'll want details then," he said, not wanting to let Jess off the hook about the whole Yale thing.  
  
"Yeah, well, me too," Jess said, smiling, to which Luke turned to him quickly. Jess just winked and turned, following Rory.  
  
Luke turned and headed into the hospital. He peered around the corner, and saw the nurse grab something from the counter and walk away. He ran through the hallway and to the second door on the left--- Room 201. He ran inside quickly and saw Lorelai look up... and noticed she was crying. 


	10. Chapter 10

Thanks everyone for the wonderful words of encouragement! It means a lot!  
  
Disclaimers all apply!! Amy Sherman-Palladino owns these people and places, and I do not, or Luke and Lorelai would be together already!  
  
Length of Time, Chapter 10  
  
The second their eyes locked and he realized that hers were crying, he wanted to run over and give her a huge hug, take away all her pain and sit with her until she fell asleep. While that's how he felt, he opted for saying the exact opposite. "Uh, do you want me to come back later? Or.... tomorrow?"  
  
Lorelai quickly swiped at her eyes. "No, no. I just... I thought visitors hours were over. I figured everyone was gone. So, did you... was there something you wanted?"  
  
He had had one hand behind his back when he entered and kept it there, but put his other hand in his pocket and walked over to her. "Everything okay?" he asked, noticing that while she had wiped away her tears, she still looked like she was about to cry.  
  
"Yeah," she said, but looked up to him, noticing that he was making a face that said he knew better. "The painkillers are starting to wear off," she said, now laughing and crying together. "I'm a real trooper, huh?"  
  
He just smiled at her, wishing she wasn't in pain right now, that there was some way he could take it away. "Listen, if you just wanna rest, I'll come back tomorrow."  
  
"No, company's good. It gets my mind off it. I just wish I weren't being such a baby about this," she said, shifting uncomfortably to get comfortable, and laughing at the irony of that.  
  
"You're not," he said. She started to protest, but he held a hand out to her. "Believe me, you're not." He put his hand back in his pocket and walked to the side of her bed, sitting down in the empty chair next to it.  
  
"I probably don't have a lot of time before the nurse comes back, but I just wanted to give you something. Well two things, actually. First thing's first," he said as he pulled from behind his back a to-go cup from the diner, with steam coming out of it.  
  
"Is that-----"  
  
"---- before you get your hopes up, this isn't coffee. It's fake coffee---- "  
  
"-fake coffee---"  
  
"I heard about it on this talk show----"  
  
"---- you watch TV?"  
  
"Sometimes, when I'm bored," he said, his tone impatient, although he didn't really feel impatient. "Anyway, I had heard about this mix that has none of the effects of coffee, no caffeine----"  
  
"----everything good about coffee,"  
  
"BUT, when brewed in a certain way, can taste just as good. I got some and added a few things, I won't tell you what they are, it's my own special mix of things and.. well, here," he said, handing her the fake coffee.  
  
She looked at it skeptically and then looked at him skeptically. He motioned his head in a way that said 'drink some already' and she smiled, as if she were scared. She sipped it slowly and then pulled her head back, surprised.  
  
"Luke! This.. this Fake Coffee..it isn't bad!" she said, taking another sip.  
  
He sat back in the chair and smiled. She drank a few more sips, and then rested the cup on her lap. "Are you sure this is Fake Coffee?"  
  
"I am 100% sure."  
  
"You know this might just mean I'll be just as annoying as ever when I want THIS for the next two weeks," she said, taking another sip.  
  
"That's okay," he said, watching her enjoy the drink.  
  
"But isn't making this a little more tedious than brewing the average java?"  
  
"A little, but it's okay. It's not rocket science." He sat for a moment, and then added "I just figured, flowers and teddy bears and all that other get-well stuff is overdone, I just wanted to get you something different."  
  
"Well you did. Thank you, Luke. I think it's honestly making me feel better already," she smiled. Then, just thinking of it, she asked, "Luke, have you eaten today?"  
  
He thought about it. "I had two eggs this morning. But no, not after that," he asked, surprised himself that he hadn't eaten. "I guess I forgot."  
  
"You forgot to eat, Luke! You know, I figured you did. You just look..hungry."  
  
"Did my eyeing your Jello give it away?"  
  
"You have no excuse to not have eaten. It's not like you were unconscious for hours on end and couldn't physically access food!"  
  
"That's true. I guess food just wasn't on my mind today," he said, as Lorelai kept sipping the Fake Coffee.  
  
"What did you do to this Fake Coffee to make it taste so good? I mean, this CANNOT by definition be fake, it's just too good!"  
  
He smiled. "I assure you, it is. I am not about to give you coffee, real coffee, under any circumstances, got that?"  
  
"Luke, I think you're taking the doctor's orders a little too seriously. And next week, when I'm home from the hospital, I'll be on my own, and who's to say I won't brew a nice, REAL, cup of java for myself?"  
  
"The nurse actually said you'll need someone with you at first, when you get home. So nice try," he said, and let out a small grunt.  
  
"And who might I ask is going to be with me? Rory is most certainly not staying home from school. Sookie has the baby and her own condition to worry about, and you'd have to knock me unconscious all over again, if you thought I would go to my paren----"  
  
"I'm staying with you," he interjected, uncomfortably.  
  
She stopped and looked up at him. "What?"  
  
"Only if it's okay with you. We all saw it as the best way. Rory said I can stay in her room."  
  
Lorelai smiled. "My own coffee man, all the time?"  
  
"Your own Fake Coffee man, for the TIME being," he corrected.  
  
"I guess it's okay. And you ARE the only person out of everyone who can carry me around, wherever I want to go, when I want to go there----"  
  
"Lorelai, your stomach was operated on, not your legs. You can walk around on your own."  
  
"Yes, well, sometimes the pain travels right down to my legs----"  
  
"Really."  
  
"Sometimes," she said, thinking about it.  
  
"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we-----" Luke started, but looked up when he started hearing voices in the hall coming toward the room.  
  
"I should get going," he said, and reached his hand into his pocket, revealing a small package. He handed it to her. "Here. Just open it when I leave," he said.  
  
"What is it?" she asked.  
  
"Something I saw awhile ago, and it made me think of you, and I just..." he suddenly got very embarrassed. "I thought you might like it."  
  
"Aw, thanks, Luke," she said smiling.  
  
He looked at her a moment, and was just about to turn to leave when she held her arms open to him.  
  
"Come on," she urged, noticing his reluctance.  
  
"I don't wanna.. hurt you," he said.  
  
"Come on!" she demanded, and he walked over, giving her a very gentle and quick hug.  
  
He pulled back and smiled at her. "Get some sleep, okay?"  
  
"I will. With all this Fake Coffee by my side, I'll be asleep in no time," she said.  
  
"I'll, uh, see you tomorrow," he said, leaving.  
  
"Yup, tomorrow, and not until the diner closes! You keep that baby open all day! And go eat!" she said, watching him leave.  
  
He turned and smiled once more, before heading through the door. She saw him run toward the exit once he got out the door, through the window in her door. She then looked at the package in her hand, and was about to open it, when she heard the voices of two doctors.  
  
"What was that?" one said.  
  
"I don't know. It sort of looked like Al from "Home Improvement" running out of here," the other said. "Only taller."  
  
Lorelai burst out laughing, and then stopped right away. "Yup, laughing hurts. Laughing hurts." But she started laughing again, in a less painful way. She turned her attention back to the package and opened it up. There was a note:  
  
"A little incentive for the next two weeks, and a bribe to keep you from biting my head off. -Luke"  
  
She opened the tissue paper underneath, and it revealed a small necklace. A small, silver chain with a coffee mug with smoke coming from it as a charm. She smiled and shook her head. She put the necklace back into the box, with the note, and placed them on the bedside tray, with the Fake Coffee.  
  
The door opened. "How are you feeling, Ms. Gilmore?" the nurse asked, getting Lorelai positioned for sleep.  
  
After she was comfortable, Lorelai looked up to the nurse.  
  
"I'm good," she answered. And within ten minutes, she was sleeping soundly.  
  
And enroute to Yale University-----  
  
They had been driving in a comfortable silence for about ten minutes, and Jess decided to try to make conversation, as they still had a little ways to go. He opened his mouth and turned toward Rory, but shut it, thankfully, before anything was said, when he noticed she had fallen asleep, her head against the window on the passenger's seat side. He turned his attention back to the road, a smile playing on his lips, as he listened to the sound of her breathing and the whisper of the radio for the rest of the ride back.  
  
And back at the diner-----  
  
Luke grabbed some food from downstairs, and walked up to his room. He sat on his bed and thought about the day's events. He ate his food in a daze, thinking of all the different emotions he went through in this one day. He started out feeling angry and annoyed, followed by upset, which was followed by nervous and worried (or frantic, some might call it), and then relieved and by the day's end, even happy.  
  
He wondered what had suddenly given him so much nerve too---- how had he summoned up the nerve to say "I love you" to Lorelai (even if she WAS asleep), and also to tell her---- honestly----how he felt during the day when she was missing, and then in surgery. Telling her how scared and upset he was. And lastly, he had no idea where he had gotten the nerve to give her the necklace. He had seen it months ago, and would never have dreamed of giving it to her. Today, something changed though.  
  
His emotions were dragged through the dirt today. All he knew was that within 12 hours, he felt many things. He had insulted Lorelai, felt horrible about it, and then learned she was missing. His words from earlier haunted him as he thought about the possibility of never seeing her again. Then when he learned she was in the hospital and having surgery, he was worried yet again. The relief that she would be okay overwhelmed him, and somewhere between then and now, he learned she possibly said, in a delusional state, that she loved him, and now she was okay, and he could only now wonder one thing----  
  
"How could a day that started so horribly end so good?"  
  
She was awake, and looking (and acting) so... Lorelai. They were talking like usual, joking and bantering, and while she was in pain, she was okay, and he knew it for sure now. She would be okay. And he couldn't even explain to himself his own happiness at that. He had realized he loved her, in full, today, and also was given a sort of promise that she may feel the same, and it just changed him. He figured that was where his nerve came from.  
  
He laid down, hoping to fall asleep soon, so the day would be over. That horrible day. He never wanted to relive that day again, he was thinking. But in another part of his mind, which brought him to smile slightly, he mused that there were certain parts of the day that he hoped to relive again in his sleep. And with that, he fell asleep. 


	11. Chapter 11

Hey, thanks for the reviews everyone! Disclaimers all apply (  
  
Length of Time Chapter 11  
  
The next morning, Lorelai awoke very early in a little bit of pain. She picked up the necklace from the bedside table and looked at it again, rereading the note as well. She smiled, thinking how nice that was of Luke. She contemplated calling Rory to say hello, but decided not to, as she wasn't sure how early it was. She just lay there awake, thinking about the previous day's events, for awhile, until the nurse entered with breakfast.  
  
"Ah, Ms. Gilmore, I thought you might be up," she said.  
  
"Yup, up and at it. Ready for the day. What do you think the chances are of me walking out of this hospital today?" Lorelai said, hopeful and teasing.  
  
"Well, let's stand you up and see, shall we?" the nurse said, calling her bluff, so to say. She placed Lorelai's food on the bedside table and sat a very excited Lorelai up carefully and led her legs slowly and carefully over the side of the bed. She took Lorelai's hands and stood her up slowly. "Alright, Ms. Gilmore, get going," the nurse said, smiling.  
  
Lorelai smiled, relishing the feeling of standing. "You see? I don't know what you guys were talking about saying I needed to stay here for a week practically. I think it's obvious to everyone that I could return to work tomorrow!"  
  
"Well what are you just standing around for? Take a few steps," the nurse said.  
  
She kept her hands firmly holding Lorelai's, knowing what was next. Lorelai moved one foot a fraction of an inch and took a teeny tiny step forward.  
  
"Ah," she grimaced in pain, and then took another tiny step, "ah!" She mustered up enough energy to take one more step. "Ah!" She looked at the nurse coyly. "You're a mean little nurse, aren't you?" she asked, still wincing as the nurse slowly guided her back toward the bed and helped her back into it.  
  
Once she was relaxed back in the bed, the nurse smiled again at her. "Well, I was supposed to stand you up today anyway, I just figured I'd let you think it was your idea."  
  
"That is both clever and mean," Lorelai said. "I'm impressed." Lorelai put her head back, now spent, while the nurse moved the tray in front of her, so she could eat. "What time is it?" Lorelai asked.  
  
"Six," the nurse said, looking at her watch.  
  
"Amazing. I don't have to go to work, yet I'm awake at a completely unreasonable hour. What did you guys slip me?" she asked, eyeing the nurse skeptically.  
  
The nurse nodded her head at the to-go cup from Luke's that was still there from the night before. "If you couldn't sleep, that is not my fault."  
  
"Oh, no, you don't understand. That's not what it looks like----"  
  
The nurse nodded her head, feigning much interest.  
  
"Yes, that is actually fake coffee."  
  
The nurse picked the cup up and sniffed it. "Smells like coffee."  
  
Lorelai smiled at the nurse. "That is the whole point of fake coffee. It's just like the real thing, but it's NOT the real thing, it's a very clever... invention," she finished, unsure of herself suddenly, under the nurse's skeptical eye.  
  
"Well, don't let it happen again," the nurse said, starting to leave.  
  
"No, but----" Lorelai started, but stopped when the nurse gave her an intimidating look. "Oh, hey, Nurse Lady, I have a question, actually."  
  
Lorelai started eating, while the nurse headed back toward the bed. "Yes?"  
  
"How did I get here? Who brought me?"  
  
"We have no idea. I actually found you unconscious outside the ER, alone. We took you in and there was no one in sight that could explain it. A little while later, Mr. Danes came looking for someone who sounded just like you, and it was all worked out. Do you remember anyone? Or anything at all about getting to the hospital?"  
  
Lorelai took a bite of her food and thought. "I vaguely remember a man's voice. But no face or anything."  
  
"Hmm. Well, so long as you ended up here and well. Anyway, I have to check on a few other patients. I'll be back later."  
  
"I know I've only been here for... well, less than a day," Lorelai started, "but I'm really bored in this room! I mean, do I just sit here all day, waiting for visitors? Because this is just cruel! And I'm not exactly ready to run a marathon out of here, as we only saw too well a minute ago. Is there ANYTHING we can do to sort of change things up a bit? Especially if I'm supposed to be in here for a few more days----"  
  
"I'll arrange for you to have a wheelchair brought in here today. We can wheel you around the floor. That'll change things up a bit," the nurse said, to which Lorelai smiled.  
  
"Now that sounds fun!"  
  
"Yes, well, I will be back to see you later. Eat up."  
  
"This is so unfair," Lorelai pouted. "It's too early to really bother anyone."  
  
The nurse just looked at her, shaking her head, before walking out of the room.  
  
As soon as Lorelai was alone, she started thinking about how early it was, and rationalized calling Rory. "Well it IS her second day of classes---- she's probably already awake," she decided, picking up the phone near her.  
  
And at Yale----  
  
Rory awoke from a sound sleep to the sound of a piercing ring. She sat up groggily and answered it.  
  
"Hello?...... Mom?......... no, my first class is at noon.... did I ever wake up six hours before class to meditate?........ how much sense does that make to you, really.... why are you so happy?......... it's too early to be chipper, especially for Lorelai Gilmore.. yes, get in touch with your roots and go back to sleep... okay, love you, bye mom," she mumbled, pushing the 'off' button, and throwing the phone and her head back on the pillow, grunting tiredly.  
  
And at Luke's Diner-----  
  
Luke was just getting the orders for a few of the early-arriving customers, when he heard the phone ring. He threw a cloth over his shoulder and headed for the phone. Before he could even say hello, a flutter of noises began in his ear, and he had to pull the phone away from him for a second, making a confused face. He put the phone back to his ear.  
  
"Lorelai?"  
  
"Luke! I knew you'd be awake! I am too! You know, I got in trouble with Nurse Lady because of your Fake Coffee, thankyouverymuch!"  
  
"Slow down. Why do you sound like Florence Henderson on speed?"  
  
"It's this so-called Fake Coffee, Luke, it's got me wired. But listen, so here's the plan. You find an hour to get over here, come in through the window or something and get me out of here! I am bored, Luke! I need to get out, see the sights, I forget what sunlight looks like!"  
  
Luke glanced out the window of the diner, at the bright glare of the early morning sun. "It's bright."  
  
"Yeah, Luke? If all I have to go on is YOUR description of the beauties of life, you surely can see why I NEED to get out of here. NOW. This room, it's dark, it's bleak, it's boring, it's lonely. They won't even give me a roommate-----"  
  
"----well, they've met you," Luke added, now writing orders on a piece of paper while he talked.  
  
"Well I am glad to see you are working today. So, what time are you bringing me coffee?"  
  
"Nice try."  
  
"Fake coffee?"  
  
"Later," he said, with no humor in his voice, even though he was now in a better mood than he had been since he'd woken up. "So, how's the stomach?"  
  
"Not bad. It would feel so much better, though, if----"  
  
"---Lorelai," Luke warned.  
  
"Luke!" She took a deep breath. She saw the nurse come in, leading an empty wheelchair. "Ah! Gotta go, my wheels are here!"  
  
Luke furrowed his eyebrows. "Your wheels?" he asked. "Lorelai," he started, in a cautious tone.  
  
"Yup! Okay, gotta go, Luke! Bye!" she said.  
  
He smiled and shook his head. "Bye," he said, hanging up the phone.  
  
Back at the hospital-----  
  
Lorelai hung up the phone and smiled at the nurse.  
  
"Ah, Luke," the nurse said. "Coffee Luke."  
  
Lorelai looked at her confused. "How did you----"  
  
"You give away a lot when you're in a pain-induced delusion," the nurse explained.  
  
A thought dawned on Lorelai. "What did I say, exactly, before the anesthesia?"  
  
The nurse smiled. She brought the wheelchair close to the bed, and started moving the only half-eaten food out of Lorelai's way.  
  
"Well," the nurse started, taking Lorelai's hands, and going through the same motions as before, to get her standing up. "You said 'Luke' and then you said you wanted more coffee----"  
  
"----doesn't sound like something I'd say," Lorelai said, deadpan.  
  
The nurse stood Lorelai up carefully. "And then you said 'I love you,'" the nurse finished.  
  
All color left Lorelai's face, before she knew it she had tunnel vision, and she would have fallen backwards on the bed, if the nurse wasn't there to hold her up.  
  
"I... I said... I, ohh..." Lorelai stammered.  
  
The nurse couldn't help but laugh.  
  
"That's uncanny! Mr. Danes did the same thing when I said that!"  
  
Now Lorelai lost all control of her body, and would have fallen limply to the floor, if the nurse didn't move her arms under her armpits and support her weight, placing her back onto the bed. Lorelai couldn't breathe. She looked up at the nurse, incredulously.  
  
"You.. you.. said.. to him.. that I..oh, I..." she couldn't get anything out.  
  
The nurse stopped laughing. "But, isn't he your boyfriend or something?" she asked.  
  
Lorelai couldn't speak, but just shook her head, her mouth hanging open.  
  
"Oh my, I.. I'm so sorry, Ms. Gilmore," the nurse said sincerely. "I wasn't thinking logically. I mean, after you said that, and then the way he was acting, how much he seemed to care.. I just thought it was more than.." she dared a look at the pale Lorelai. "I'm really sorry. Are... are you even dating?"  
  
"No, never dated, never kissed, and definitely, never said 'I.. I...'"  
  
"-----'love you'" the nurse said, in an attempt to be helpful, but which only invited an evil glare from Lorelai. Lorelai started to position herself back on the bed, in a lying position. The nurse tried to help, but Lorelai held a up a hand to stop her, and slowly and more painfully did it herself.  
  
Embarrassment, humiliation, fear and shock stung Lorelai to the core of her bones and she couldn't do anything. She couldn't breathe, couldn't speak... couldn't even blink.  
  
She put a hand on her face and just slowly shook her head. "So Luke thinks.. that I love him," she barely spit out.  
  
"Well, don't you?" the nurse asked, confused by the whole thing.  
  
"Not if he doesn't love me!" she said, and then she gasped. She had no idea why THAT was her answer. Her natural inclination wasn't to deny it? To say 'of course not! It's LUKE!'? She suddenly remembered more pieces from the car ride, and her thoughts, before she passed out. She had been thinking of Luke in this context, that much she remembered. She had been upset that he said that they would never date. She was really upset by it, she recalled. She was taken from her reverie, when she noticed the nurse was talking now.  
  
"-----and the way you'd muttered his name, and the words 'I love you' and how completely frantic that man was when he came in here, and then when he saw you... I just assumed..." the nurse said guiltily.  
  
But Lorelai quieted her with a wave of the hand. "Okay, so we got it, you made the asinine mistake of telling... Luke... that I lo-----" she was choking on that word. "---love him.. and he did.. what, exactly?"  
  
"Well he looked positively nauseous-----"  
  
"----- yes, I often have that effect on him----"  
  
"---like you just did. And, like you, he couldn't speak either. I'm so sorry, I just thought it was so obvious."  
  
"Did you?" Lorelai was at least smiling again now, even if it was in a mocking way. "And this was going by what... a conversation you had with an unconscious woman."  
  
"In retrospect, it wasn't the best way to make that judgment," the nurse agreed.  
  
Lorelai nodded, now feeling her cheeks go a deep scarlet. But she was a little calmer now.  
  
"Okay, so this, this is... I don't even have thoughts anymore. Not coherent ones anyway. I have no coherent thoughts at all!" she said, growing panicked again.  
  
"Well," the nurse said, now feeling very guilty and upset at herself, "were you gonna ever say that to him? I mean, I don't want to think that I did something REALLY bad."  
  
"Nurse Lady, you didn't do something really GOOD," Lorelai stated, putting a hand on her forehead. "Let's just say that if I ever was going to say.. that.. to someone I would want to be conscious for the moment. And present too."  
  
The nurse sat on the edge of the bed. "Okay, well, maybe this is a good thing---"  
  
"--- ah, this should be interesting. Let's hear it."  
  
"Well, this could be the nudge you guys need to say it for yourselves," the nurse said, proudly.  
  
"I mean, talk about attacking the defenseless---- I had organs exploding inside of me and I was delusional! And now Luke thinks I'm pining for him!"  
  
"I wouldn't say PINING----" the nurse said, to which Lorelai shot her a look. "I just mean, well, I don't know either of you that well, but he doesn't seem to act like he thinks you're pining for him."  
  
Just then, the nurse's beeper went off, and she glanced down at it. "I'm sorry. I will be back in a little bit," she said, quickly making an escape.  
  
"Yeah, run out of here!" Lorelai said after she was gone. "You KNOW I can't run after you!"  
  
A million thoughts raced through her mind, as she slowly got an idea. She slowly, carefully, and painfully sat herself up, held onto the bed, and stood up, and then took about ten tiny, painful steps to the wheelchair. She flopped down into it, wincing, and headed out of the room. 


	12. Chapter 12

( thanks everyone!  
  
Disclaimers all apply-aka, Amy Sherman-Palladino owns this and I do not, or else Luke and Lorelai would already be TOGETHER!!!  
  
Length of Time, Chapter 12  
  
Luke glanced sidelong at Kirk, an evil glare resonating from him--- he would not stop asking him questions about what he was "fiddling" with in the corner.  
  
"It looks like coffee," Kirk would say. To which Luke would respond:  
  
"It's not coffee," with a grim tone.  
  
And then Kirk would add:  
  
"Smells like coffee----"  
  
"It's NOT coffee."  
  
"Can I have some----?"  
  
"No."  
  
And then it would start again.  
  
"It looks like coffee."  
  
Now Luke was at the point of just glaring at Kirk, instead of giving him the time of day for conversation.  
  
"I just heard the news!" Babette ran into the diner, practically screaming, and Luke actually welcomed the distraction, as now Kirk unwillingly but most definitely, shut up.  
  
"I saw Miss Patty, who heard from Mrs. Kim, who heard from Lane, who is best friends with Rory---"  
  
"I know who Lane is," Luke said harshly---- or maybe not harshly so much as very Luke-like.  
  
"And it turns out that Lorelai is sick and dying at one of those medical research centers---"  
  
"No, Babette," Luke started, holding up a hand, his hatred for town gossip escalating within him.  
  
"I should have known! She was so pale when she left here yesterday! I saw it on her face! She must have picked up something in Europe----"  
  
"Yeah, a bad appendix. She picked that up in Europe," Luke said, getting more annoyed. Off Babette's confused look, he added, sighing, "her appendix exploded, and she's in a HOSPITAL, not a research center," by now, rolling his eyes. "She'll be fine; she's okay," he added, trying to calm Babette, since he was noticing that fear and eccentricity did not mix well.  
  
"Did you see her? Can she talk? Will she walk again?"  
  
"Since they operated on her STOMACH, I don't see why not. She's talking her head off, as usual, and yes, I saw her."  
  
"Was she still a pretty girl?" Babette said, and Luke raised one eyebrow, confused as ever by this woman.  
  
"Babette, do you know what an appendix is?"  
  
"Do I know what an appendix is, of course I know what an appendix is! I lost mine years ago," she said, touching her stomach for emphasis.  
  
Luke shook his head and walked away from her, to take another order.  
  
Meanwhile, at the hospital----  
  
Lorelai pushed open the door that read Room 225. An elderly woman lifted her head up hopefully, as if she were expecting family, or a nurse, or doctor--- but she looked over her shoulder, to see if there was someone else in the room besides herself when she noticed another patient in a wheelchair no less, heading expectantly toward her.  
  
"Hi," Lorelai said, smiling.  
  
"Hi," the woman said, cautiously, now thinking, based on the expression that Lorelai was giving her, that Lorelai had wandered over from the mental health ward. "Um, I'm Millie," the woman said, sounding a little scared now.  
  
"Ah, Millie, you know, you look like you have a lot of life experience. I myself.. well I have a lot of life experience too, but obviously not as much as you. Oh! Not that I am suggesting that you're old! It's just you're older than me, obviously. Not obvious in the sense that one would look at you and think, 'hey, old lady'" she said, deepening her voice for the imitation. "But I just mean that you seem a little older than me. I'm thirty-five. Yes, I have thirty-five years of life experience behind me. It's not that much, in the grand scheme of things, but still, a good amount. And after all these years, things still happen that shock me and make me want to bang my head on walls! Or... or doors! But it's all about life, isn't it. Lessons in life. We never stop learning them, do we? I mean... please tell me, because I am dying to know, is there an age, and please tell me there is, where everything just becomes clear and we don't have to still do things that make us want to bang our heads on walls and doors? And please, please say that the age is thirty-six."  
  
Millie blinked wildly for a few long moments, while Lorelai waited for an answer. She finally managed one thing to say to her:  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
And at Yale----  
  
Rory had rolled out of bed, finally, and gotten showered, dressed and ready to go for breakfast, since she had awhile before her first class.  
  
"What time did you finally roll in last night? And you already ditched classes; it's barely the second day!" Paris said, while Rory was brushing her teeth.  
  
With toothpaste goo covering her lips, and her speech impaired by the water and toothpaste in her mouth, Rory glared at Paris through the mirror. "I dah-ed dah!"  
  
Paris just shook her head, severely. "Well if you expect notes from Flaherty's class, think again. I will not be your babysitter, while you party away your Ivy League days," she said authoritatively.  
  
Rory finally spit out the toothpaste. "I said, I didn't ditch. There was an emergency at home. My mom's in the hospital," she finished, walking past Paris, who only was able to mumble a pathetic, "oh".  
  
Paris breezed into the room, feigning cheer. "Is she okay? I have notes from Flaherty's class, in case you're interested."  
  
Rory just laughed incredulously, shaking her head at Paris. She went through her closet. "She'll be okay. It was her appendix-----"  
  
"Oh!" Paris said, as if she were unimpressed, and thought it might have been something more serious and worth concern. "Well, the offer for the notes still stands," she added, realizing how she sounded.  
  
"Thanks so much, that's really nice of you," Rory said, sarcastically, rolling her eyes with her back to Paris. She finally located an outfit. There was a knock on the door of the suite. Rory used this as an opportunity to stop talking to Paris.  
  
She walked out of the room, through the cutely decorated (thanks to Lorelai) common room, and answered the door.  
  
"Jess!" she exclaimed, surprised to see him, and then embarrassed to be seeing him in her pajamas.  
  
"Hey, I just----" he started.  
  
Her embarrassment and lack of sleep caught up with her around that moment. "I told you, we'll be acquaintances, and maybe later, even friends. Acquaintances, almost by definition, don't seek each other out. They just happen to see each other or something. Like in class, or in the dining hall, or in their common hometown, or... or in the laudry room... or---"  
  
Jess stifled a look of amusement and handed her a notebook that belonged to her. It went without saying that at some point when they'd been doing a little work in the waiting room, he had stuffed her notebook into his bag accidentally. He did a sort of sarcastic salute to her with his pointer and middle fingers, and without another word walked away.  
  
Rory felt herself go very red, and after reluctantly shutting the door, once he was long gone, she placed her back against the door, now much more embarrassed than she had been about her pajamas.  
  
And back in Room 225, at St. Marks's Hospital, in Millie's Room----  
  
Lorelai was in a full-swing one-way conversation.  
  
"So the nurse decides to take this whole complicated history into her own hands, basically, even though she doesn't know me, and she doesn't know Lu-- --- uh, Ken----- at all."  
  
"I thought his name was Bill."  
  
"Yeah, that's what I meant," Lorelai said. "Bill. And she's all 'yeah, she said I loooove you and was talking about YOU, Bill,'" Lorelai went on, in a flighty voice that was her impression of Nurse Lady. "And now Lu---- Ken----ah, BILL, thinks that I am this crazy lovesick puppy, that melts when he comes into a room, and, and can't tie my shoes without thinking about him, let alone have surgery---- I mean, it speaks volumes when your subconscious can't stop thinking about people, everyone knows that; he must feel bad for me now. I hate pity, Millie. More than I hate not being able to drink coffee---"  
  
"Coffee again---" Millie said, rolling her eyes.  
  
"More than even THAT, I hate pity. It's like this large, ugly, black, miserable, horrible, grotesque, pathetic, stupid CLOUD over me now. I mean, you do something like this, and it can really ruin a friendship. And we.. now there's a good friendship. Never did a better friendship exist. Did you know that?"  
  
"I caught that somewhere in the thirty minute lecture about the history of your friendship," the older woman said tiredly, albeit looking mildly amused.  
  
"Well a friendship like ours can't be summed up in a sentence. Well, I suppose it could; it would definitely be an extremely long-winded run-on sentence, though----"  
  
"Sadie?"  
  
"My name's not Sadie," Lorelai said, seriously.  
  
"You never told me your name, so I am calling you Sadie. Now, if I give you advice, will you leave? It's past my nap time!"  
  
Lorelai smiled guiltily. "Of course! I'll leave. Just tell me what to do."  
  
Millie shook her head at Lorelai, looking at her like she was stupid to even need to be told that this was obviously the best and only course of action in her situation. "Kiss him, already!" she finally spat out, to which Lorelai's amused face suddenly turned serious, and she fell back against her wheelchair, her mind reeling.  
  
And back at the diner----  
  
Luke was getting ready to leave. He was pouring lots of Fake Coffee into a to-go cup, while talking to Caesar.  
  
"I'll be back in a few hours, and Kirk's not allowed in for the rest of the day," he joked, his expression serious though.  
  
"Okay," was all Caesar said, and Luke nodded at him, grabbed the Fake Coffee and left, enroute to the hospital, with a hope and a prayer that he would have the courage to do what he wanted to do today. 


	13. Chapter 13

Length of Time Chapter 13  
  
Lorelai wheeled herself out of Millie's room.. her words of advice ringing in her head.  
  
The little old, squeaky voice rang, "just try it. You'll realize it's not what you want and solve the mystery, so you can get over it OR... you'll realize it's what you've been missing. But please, for the love of god, Sadie, leave already, I'm tired!"  
  
Her stomach was in knots now... well the part of her stomach that wasn't numb. She started wheeling herself blindly toward her room.  
  
"Lorelai!"  
  
Hearing her name called, she looked up and felt like the chair was going to tip and knock her to the floor. It was Luke. He started walking toward her. She held an arm out.  
  
"Stop!"  
  
He stopped in his tracks, still a ways down the hall from her. He looked confused.  
  
"Uh, I brought Fake Coffee," he said, indicating the cup in his hand.  
  
She was panicking now. She wanted to buy time. "Could you put it in my room? Just put it on the bedside table."  
  
He was extremely confused now. "Lorelai," he started, slowly walking toward her. "I'll wheel you back to your room. The nurse said you were bothering some other patients----"  
  
"No, stop," she repeated, holding her arm out again. She looked positively nauseous. She was practically shaking. "Uh, just put it in my room and THEN come back out into the hallway."  
  
He lifted one eyebrow, making a mental note to ask the nurse what medications she had her on. He turned and walked toward Room 203.  
  
Lorelai sat in her wheelchair, her mind reeling. She wasn't expecting to see him so soon. She thought she'd have more time to think about what Millie had said, and make up her mind about what to do. Suddenly she noticed that her chest was heaving... she was practically panting. She was really nervous, and had only just realized it. Her palms were sweaty and she just kept pressing her lips together, her jumbled thoughts starting to make her dizzy. She was happy she was sitting, and not standing, or she'd have fallen over by now. Thinking that Luke would be coming back into the hall and would want to talk to her, since he was obviously visiting now, she started freaking out more, and used her right arm to turn the chair in the opposite direction and start wheeling that way.  
  
"Lorelai, where are you going?" she heard Luke ask, clearly back in the hall.  
  
She turned the chair back toward him. "Luke, hey! You came to visit me! How nice! I, I, I... how do you like my wheels?"  
  
She held her hand out to him again, as he was walking toward her, clearly concerned at her behavior.  
  
"Uh... the wheels are ni----- Lorelai, what's wrong?"  
  
She swallowed nervously. She needed time to think, before she saw him up close. She knew she needed to buy time and was wracking her brain as to how to do it.  
  
He stood there, looking at her expectantly and, he realized, nervously. She looked like she was about to bite away her bottom lip.  
  
"Lorelai----"  
  
She looked up at him. "Tie your shoelaces together!" she exclaimed, to which his eyebrows shot up to the strap of his cap. She even looked confused herself as to where she might be going with this, but she would work with it.  
  
Meanwhile at Yale-----  
  
Rory patiently waited for the cook to hand her her omelette, looking around casually. She spotted Jess sitting at a table a little ways away, seemingly unaware of her. She became embarrassed all over again at the morning's events. She just stared at him, reading intently, his feet on the chair beside him, looking comfortable and not in the mood to have company. He seemed positively engrossed in his book---  
  
"Miss," the cook said, interrupting her thoughts. She turned back to him and grabbed the plate.  
  
"Thanks," she mustered out quietly.  
  
She walked away from the cooking area and looked around for an empty table. She took a deep breath and headed toward Jess's table finally.  
  
"Hey," she said.  
  
He looked up and smirked. "Listen, I didn't read your notebook, I swear. I just accidentally put it in my bag when we were getting ready to----"  
  
"---no, that's not what I was gonna say," she said.  
  
"Ah. I just assumed," he said coyly, to which she narrowed her eyes at him.  
  
"Well it's not good to assume," she said, standing there uncomfortably, shifting her weight from foot to foot, looking around for a table still.  
  
"I'll try to remember that," he said, looking back at her book.  
  
"Well, me too. Sorry for this morning," she said, a little under her breath, if truth be told. "I just didn't sleep really well last night. I kept waking myself up to remind myself that my mom was okay and..." she stopped and looked at him, his expression clear that he was waiting for the rest. "And well I'm sorry."  
  
He let out a small laugh. "It's okay. But let me just ask you.. is this you seeking me out? Because that's not really appropriate acquaintance etiquette. I mean, according to your rules, aren't we supposed to like, collide into each other in order to talk?"  
  
She furrowed her brows at him, knowing that he was enjoying this. "I said I was out of it, this morning. Those rules don't apply. Just forget it," she said, frustrated.  
  
He looked around, also noticing that there weren't any empty tables around. "You can eat here if you want. I mean, I'll just read my book and you can just eat. I wouldn't want to cross any lines. We're still in that fragile acquaintance stage, after all."  
  
She sighed and put her tray down. "You gonna hold this over my head forever?"  
  
He took his legs off the chair beside him and she pulled it out and sat down, looking angry, but realizing that she was also secretly amused.  
  
"I think I might," he said, and he put his elbows on the table and put his book back in front of him. He read a few sentences before looking back up at her. She was glaring at him playfully before taking an angry bite of her food. He smiled slightly and turned his attention back to the book.  
  
And at St. Marks's.. still in the hallway-----  
  
"Tie my shoelaces together?" Luke asked, incredulously, to which Lorelai nodded energetically, beaming from ear to ear a nervous, giddy smile.  
  
"Yes, Luke, tie your laces together," she said happily.  
  
He just stood there. "Can I ask why?"  
  
"Oh! I just..." she thought for a moment. "I have to practice walking, Nurse Lady said, and my steps are really short, and quite painful if truth be told, and I just thought you should take small steps too," she smiled at herself for her cleverness.  
  
"Couldn't I just walk alongside you? I'd be walking in small steps, and also be able to be there in case you stumble or something," he said, clearly very concerned now.  
  
"Damn," she thought. He had a point. She wracked her brain again. "Uh, I just thought this would be more fun."  
  
"Fun? I'm sorry if I don't share your definition of fun. For me, tying the laces of my shoes together.... well, isn't fun. Lorelai, why are we standing a hallway apart talking in depth about my shoe laces?"  
  
"Ah, but that could end if you would just cooperate, Luke," she said smartly.  
  
He began to hesitate and again, she held her hand out to him. He took a deep breath and just looked at her, crossing his arms. "Lorelai," he said, an air of suspicion in his voice.  
  
Finally, she thought of an idea. A far fetched one, but an idea nonetheless.  
  
"I want to play a game!" she said, too eagerly.  
  
Now he was sure she was on something strong. "A game."  
  
"Yes, you tie your laces together and I'll stand up and we'll walk toward each other and see who gets to the other one first! That person wins!"  
  
"You do realize that we'd get to eachother at the same time, don't you?" he asked.  
  
"So we'll tie!"  
  
"Why play if we know the outcome?" he asked, going along with her craziness.  
  
"Luke! I am having day after surgery pain and suffering! Just play this game with me! Please! Come on, Luke?"  
  
She was looking truly desperate, he noticed. He took a deep breath before bending over to tie his laces together. "Fine," he grunted.  
  
Looking at her looking so nerve-wracked and desperate, and basically telling him that her stomach was hurting got him. He figured she must know that. That he would do anything for her, just to help and cheer her up. Or just ever. This is what he was thinking while he tied his laces.  
  
"Be sure to knot them," he heard her say, to which he just grunted. She was a good twenty NORMAL steps away from him, and doctors and patients were giving them odd looks as they walked by the scene of these two people, who clearly knew each other, talking from such a distance.  
  
He stood and up and looked at her, as if to say "pleased?" She smiled and started to stand up. Slowly and painfully, but surely, she was eventually on her feet. "Okay. Go!" she said.  
  
He took a step but stopped when he heard little yelps coming from her side of the hallway. "Ah... ah!......ah!........ah!......."  
  
She was taking tiny tiny steps, and yelping like a little puppy with each step.  
  
He was stopped in his tracks. "You gonna do that with every step?" he asked.  
  
She stopped and looked up at him, her mouth hanging open like she was very upset with him. "Well, excuse me, I just----"  
  
This time he held a hand up at her. "I'm just.. Lorelai, you look like you're in pain. Let me untie my shoes and come over and help----"  
  
"No! I'm fine! Really. And Luke, you are BREAKING the rules! No talking!"  
  
"There are rules to this insane game?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah.... the ones you're breaking," she said, in a way that suggested he was a little slow.  
  
He gritted his teeth and noted that this woman managed to make him absolutely insane, even when incapacitated, well more or less.  
  
He braced himself and continued, after hearing another yelp, realizing she was already continuing.  
  
They were walking at a snail's pace toward one another, while occasionally passing nurses, doctors, patients and visitors glanced at them as if they were insane. Luke nodded at them in total agreement.  
  
"Ah!...... ah!..........ah!..........ah!!....... ah!......."  
  
Luke looked up and watched Lorelai take her small, careful, painful steps. She was holding her right side, the side that hadn't been operated on, her face painted over with what looked to him like pain. He started quickening his little steps, so to get to her faster and end this stupid game.  
  
"Ah!.......ah.... ah!---whoa, uh, LUKE!" she said, too eagerly, now looking him in the face, smiling in an attempt to hide her nerves. "Uh, I win!"  
  
"I thought we agreed that we tie. And we're actually standing closer to where YOU started, so I think that makes ME the winner, if there is a win--- -"  
  
"Luke! Day after surgery pain and suffering," she said, frowning playfully.  
  
"Ah, right. Um, now that I look again, I think... yeah, you definitely won that one. Now let me just----" he started, beginning to bend down to untie his laces. But her right hand reached out to his left arm, stopping him. He stood back upright and looked down at her nervous face. He tilted his head, now exasperated and concerned.  
  
"Lorelai, what's going on? Are you okay?"  
  
She tried to talk, to answer him, but only a series of "uhs" and "ums" came out because her mind was racing and reeling. Her head and thoughts were clouded by voices-----  
  
A crazy mix of things Lorelai and Luke had said to each other over the years, mixed with their laughter, thoughts of hugs, and special moments blended with Millie's dominant voice, in all the chaos, screaming "kiss him already!..... what you've been missing.."  
  
She took a breath, shut her eyes, and tried to lift both of her arms around his neck. Her left arm didn't make it, as it was painful to lift it due to the pain on that side of her stomach, but her right arm made it over his shoulder, her hand pressing the back of his neck. She pulled him down so his face was level with hers.  
  
He wasn't sure what was going on, as she was clearly holding onto him, pulling on him. Her eyes were shut and she looked unsteady, he noted. He reasoned she was dizzy after the walking, because she must be on medications that have dizzying side effects with exertion. Her breathing was growing labored and she still hadn't opened her eyes, after pulling his head down. He was starting to get really nervous that she was going to faint, and so he put one arm around her waist, trying to steady and relax her.  
  
"Lorelai," he said, his voice practically a whisper. "Are you-----"  
  
She opened her eyes slowly and looked right into his eyes which were right there, looking at her, concern clearly in them... and something else, she saw. She pressed her lips together and took one more breath before leaning in.. in slow motion it seemed to both of them.. she moved until their lips were touching. She kissed him slowly and gently, and while he was confused, he kissed back immediately. The kiss lasted for what seemed like forever, for both of them.. a sweet, passionate, yet gentle kiss that expressed more than either of them could ever say. Lorelai finally pulled back and they just stared at each other.  
  
"That's what I've been missing," Lorelai whispered to herself, as her mouth fell open slightly, shock overcoming her.  
  
"Huh?" Luke said, not feeling capable of more than that one syllable.  
  
After making sure she was steady, he turned, meaning to pace a little, but fell down, due to his laces being tied together. Trying to play it cool he turned and rested casually on his elbows and looked up at her, flustered.  
  
"Yeah," she said, in agreement, looking down at him, knowing exactly how he felt. 


	14. Chapter 14

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Thanks for all the encouragement with this story! (  
  
The world of the Gilmore Girls belongs to Amy Sherman-Palladino!  
  
Length of Time Chapter 14  
  
"Ms. Gilmore!" Nurse Lady's voice echoed in the hall, as Luke scurried to get his laces untied, and then tied again, on separate shoes.  
  
The voice also broke into Lorelai's thoughts, or rather her intense lack of thought and panic of emotions and she looked up to see the nurse hurrying at her.  
  
"I didn't give you a wheelchair so you could go traipsing all over the hospital, bothering poor old patients and walk whenever you feel like it. If you had waited one more minute, I would have wheeled you around the floor so you wouldn't be bored in the room all day," Nurse Lady scolded, bringing the wheelchair behind Lorelai and helping the overwrought patient into it. Lorelai could not stop staring straight ahead, at nothing, and could not manage words even to joke with Nurse Lady. She was not actually looking at anything, but inside, all Lorelai could see was that... that kiss.  
  
Luke was standing again, by now, having fixed his laces, and was realizing that he was starting to get flushed. With the nurse scolding them, and him having fallen, he was very embarrassed. He figured it was embarrassment that was causing his cheeks to feel hot, but he could not get his mind off the events of a minute earlier, which he also suspected may have had something to do with it. He was completely shaken.  
  
"Mr. Danes, did you hear me?" Nurse Lady asked a very dazed Luke. He was shaken from his thoughts and looked over to the nurse, who had her hands on Lorelai's wheelchair, while Lorelai continued to stare ahead, practically catatonic.  
  
"I'm sorry," he finally managed to say to the nurse, indicating that whatever she said, he hadn't heard.  
  
"I just said that I have to give Ms. Gilmore some shots, and then you can visit her, but not for too long, okay?"  
  
Luke swallowed, not looking down at Lorelai, not feeling capable of looking down at her just then. "Um, yeah. That... that is fine. I..... I..... I'm just gonna wait over----"  
  
And before he could finish, he was muttering to himself, heading to the waiting room.  
  
"Ah Sadie!" Millie's voice was heard, and Lorelai blushed even more, turning to see the old woman heading toward her. She thought this could not get any more embarrassing. Luke turned, and noticed the woman heading toward them, and he furrowed his eyebrows, now more confused than ever.  
  
"Sadie, I just----" Millie stopped and looked at a confused Luke who unknowingly was touching his lips with a few fingers, still clearly in shock. "Is this Lu-Ken---Bill?" Millie asked coyly and mockingly, sending a smile at Lorelai that implied it was payback time for Lorelai's bothering her earlier.  
  
"Uh......." Lorelai started, as a smiling Millie was wheeled away.  
  
"Who's Sadie?" Luke asked. "And what's a Lukenbil?"  
  
"She's from the mental ward... I mean, really. She thinks my name is Sadie!" Lorelai said quickly, clearly flustered, as Nurse Lady just rolled her eyes and shook her head. She then wheeled Lorelai back into her room, leaving a very confused Luke behind.  
  
Luke walked over to the waiting area, speechless and shocked. He sat down and stared straight ahead, thinking.  
  
"Did Lorelai just kiss me?" "What do they have her on?" "Did Lorelai just kiss me?" "Who was that woman? And who is Sadie?" "Did Lorelai just kiss me?"  
  
He just sat there, thoughts racing madly through his mind, but while his millions of thoughts were all jumbled, his mind's eye could only see one thing: the kiss. That heart-stopping, gut-wrenching, mind-blowing kiss that made the world spin. He couldn't figure it out. He'd kissed many women before, he was thinking, but... this. It was just different. With her, he knew it would be, if it ever happened. But he didn't expect quite this effect. This kiss made his world, which had always seemed a little off its axis, finally right itself. Everything around him seemed hazy and out of focus, yet he'd never seen things so clear in his life before. He noted the anxious butterfly feelings in his stomach, and the fact that his heart still hadn't resumed a normal pace and he, despite the shock he was in, smiled at the perfection of that moment. A moment he prayed he would get to experience again.  
  
And at Yale----  
  
Rory was smiling as she walked out of her first Journalism class at Yale. She knew her professor was the type of woman who would inspire her and make her work hard, and she was very excited about it. She had a few free hours before another class, so she headed out to the courtyard and found a nice, secluded and quiet place on the grass, where she sat and opened her notebook. She started writing blissfully and quickly, pouring all her inspired thoughts onto the blank sheets, when she stopped, looking up. She grabbed her cell phone and dialed the number for the hospital.  
  
"Can I be connected to Lorelai Gilmore's room please?" she said politely into the phone.  
  
And at the hospital----  
  
Lorelai jumped at the sound of the phone ringing. She was safely in her bed now, safely out of arm's reach of Luke, so as to not make a fool of herself again in front of him, she thought. The nurse was giving her medications and shots, and picked up the phone, handing it to a jumpy Lorelai.  
  
"Yes?!" Lorelai said into the phone, too eagerly to be passed as normal.  
  
"Mom?" Rory asked, from the campus. "What's wrong? You sound like you're.... I don't know, visiting with Grandma or something. You're all nervy-sounding."  
  
"No, no, oh it's much worse! My dear girl, don't ever grow up to be like your old lady. I am officially crazy! Maybe it WAS the coffee, or, or the Fake Coffee, or the loss of my daughter, best friend and lifeline to Yale, crazy pretentious institution, maybe it was Millie, who still thinks my name is Sadie, or, or maybe I just cracked up, truly cracked up, like in the 'Hi, I'm Lisa Marie Presley, and I'm gonna marry Michael Jackson' kind of way....or-----"  
  
"Mom!" Rory shouted, growing anxious just listening to her rant. "WHAT are you talking about? And who is Millie? And who is Sadie? And what's Fake Coffee? And what does Elvis's daughter have to do with any of it?"  
  
"She thinks I'm Sadie, and she thinks Luke is Bill," Lorelai said calmly, as if that explained everything.  
  
"I see," Rory said, giving her mother a chance to get to the point.  
  
"Millie.. you know, I think she has powers, like maybe she's a witch or something, because I NEVER would have... could have... I mean, I just couldn't have gotten up the nerve to...... oh and Nurse Lady..... yeah you with the needle, don't think you didn't have something to do with my sudden come-on of absolute insanity."  
  
"Oh mom, leave poor Nurse Lady alone. Haven't we all tortured her enough in the past two days?" Rory said, in an attempt to calm the raving Lorelai.  
  
"Oh, Rory, you naïve girl, you. You have no idea what this woman has started. It was a big chain reaction type of thing, like Dominoes. Yes, my life has become a big Dominoes game. First she tells Luke that I said, in a state of unconscious delusion that I love him----"  
  
"Wha----"  
  
"----and then she tells ME that I said that. And then she tells me that she told HIM that. Yes, this woman keeps NOTHING to herself-----"  
  
Rory listened, wide-eyed, fearing what might be next. The nurse just looked skyward, whistling, while still administering the medication.  
  
"----and then I set off to see Millie on my ride---"  
  
"Your ride?" Rory interjected, very confused now.  
  
"Yeah, my set of wheels," Lorelai said matter-of-factly.  
  
"Oh, of course, your set of wheels," Rory said.  
  
"----and she said 'kiss him and you'll see' and all this other, let's just call it 'crap', and then I did it... I saw Luke and I walked VERY slowly over to him and I----"  
  
"You didn't," Rory said, stunned now.  
  
"I did."  
  
"You kissed Luke."  
  
"I kissed Luke!" Lorelai said, starting to really panic now, causing the nurse to become a little worried over her agitation.  
  
"Mom!" Rory let out a stunned half-laugh, disbelieving of the whole scenario.  
  
Lorelai didn't say anything, she just nodded in agreement with Rory's shock, clutching the phone in a way that made her knuckles turn white.  
  
"How was it?" Rory asked after a few moments, softly.  
  
Lorelai held back a few tears that she hadn't before even been aware were there, welling up in her eyes, threatening to pour over. "It was unbelievable," she said, shocked by this, more than the kiss itself, her voice barely audible.  
  
Rory let out a small breath and smiled. "Wow" was all she managed to say.  
  
"Exactly," Lorelai said in the phone.  
  
"I mean, I'm not sure I understand what happened, but I think I got the basics. There were a few names in there that I didn't recognize, but I got the important stuff. You said you loved Luke and then you kissed him," she said, still trying to wrap her mind around it, herself.  
  
"I..." Lorelai immediately starting panicking again, a million thoughts going through her mind.  
  
"Mom, calm down. This sounds like a good thing. An unexpected, surprising, shocking, plot-twist, but a good thing, nonetheless," Rory said, attempting to comfort her mother. "Wow. Luke."  
  
"Yeah, Luke, that's just it! I.. he's my friend. One of my best friends!"  
  
"Well, mom, that's a good thing too. Romances based on friendships are the best kinds," Rory said, looking at her notepad, starting to mindlessly scribble on it.  
  
"Sure, sure, but what if he doesn't want romance? I just kind of forced the kiss on him! I mean, I grabbed him and kissed him! The poor guy didn't see it coming, he just thought I was being crazy, off-kilter, and that there was something wrong with me, I mean all he did before I kissed him was keep asking if I was okay, like mentally, I could tell, more than because I was walking like I had a fifty pound weight on each foot----"  
  
"Mom, take a deep breath."  
  
"I just kissed him, catching him completely, and by that I mean FULLY, ENTIRELY, and WHOLEHEARTEDLY off guard!"  
  
Rory smiled. "Did he kiss you back?" she dared ask.  
  
"Uh.." Lorelai wracked her brain. The whole thing was a fantastic blur and she couldn't quite remember everything about it, especially now that some of those medications were kicking in. She was definitely feeling 'woozy'. She thought back to the kiss as she remembered it. It was sort of long, definitely sweet, and made her legs do that jello-thing, rendering her dizzy, unable to support herself, light-headed, and completely dazed afterward. She smiled, knowing with certainty that it was an amazing kiss and that "he kissed back," which she admitted out loud to Rory.  
  
"Well, now, see? He didn't have to. You can't force a person to kiss back. I mean, kissing by definition----"  
  
"Please, honey, no definitions," Lorelai said, holding her head now.  
  
"Well it takes two," Rory settled for saying. She looked up from her spot on the ground to the people in the distance also in the courtyard, sitting on either benches or the grass, or walking with friends. She smiled as she continued scanning the crowd and talking to her mother. She couldn't help smiling, thinking it was a really beautiful scene, this nice fall day, and the fact that on this perfect day, her mother was FINALLY seeing what everyone else had seen for so long.  
  
"Right, but he might have just felt bad. I mean, I used all my energy to wobble over there to do that, he couldn't just not participate, plus I just had surgery, plus he had only just yesterday sort of insulted me, and found out I overheard that, and discovered I was missing, and then in the hospital, all very good things which might make him feel bad for me, making him feel the need to go along with----"  
  
"---what insult?"  
  
"Oh, not now, I'll tell you when I see you. One crisis at a time, honey."  
  
"Got it," Rory said.  
  
"Not that that was a crisis, I mean we worked it out. And Nicole! I mean, he only just broke up with her yesterday----"  
  
"He broke up with Nicole?"  
  
"I thought you subscribed to the Stars Hollow paper, Rory, I mean, keep up! I cannot be your source for all the town gossip!"  
  
Rory just smiled at her mother's nerves, thinking this whole thing so innocent and cute. She doodled more on her notepad and continued looking at the crowd, thinking about how sweet it was that these two great people, and best friends, had finally crossed the romance threshold.  
  
Her eyes stopped on a familiar figure and she squinted. Jess. He was sitting a ways away on the grass, reading, also alone. She put her head back down, immediately, feeling suddenly like she was eavesdropping on him or something.  
  
"And his decision to break up with Nicole was sort of rash, so maybe he is now thinking more logically and has decided that he wants to be with her after all. And then he comes to see me and I go and do this. I mean, he was just coming as a friend to see how I am, and I ruin that whole thing, and now he probably feels like this horrible person, like he cheated on her or something, when this is in fact all my fault, and oh wow, this is big---- "  
  
"Not really mom. I mean, it doesn't have to be. Boy meets girl. Boy kisses girl. They live happily ever after. Happens all the time. It actually can be quite easy. Although with you, I don't think anything could ever really be 'easy', and Luke WOULD be the first person to point that out, but still.. it doesn't have to be quite the quarter-life crisis you're making it out to be---"  
  
"---quarter-life? Oh, you're sweet, honey," Lorelai said, clearly emotional now.  
  
"What is Nurse Lady giving you?" Rory found herself looking up again at Jess. She noticed a pretty red-headed girl approaching him, talking to him. She looked down again, immediately, noting a small pang of something in her stomach. She tried to dismiss the feeling, but found it causing her to continue to glance up at the chatting pair.  
  
"Oh, honey, Nurse Lady is done, and says she's going to 'send Mr. Danes in'" Lorelai said, imitating the nurse in the same flighty voice. She shuddered and took a deep breath.  
  
"Okay, but mom, calm down. Don't throw this whole thing away because you're freaking out. If I know Luke, he's freaking out too."  
  
"Yeah. Well," Lorelai said, the panic in her growing again.  
  
"Feel better, and relax, okay? I will call you later, after my last class."  
  
"Okay, honey. I love you."  
  
"Love you too, mom. Bye."  
  
"Bye," Lorelai said nervously.  
  
At Yale----  
  
Rory turned off her cell phone and after a moment looked back at Jess again. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she noticed that not only was the redhead gone, but he was looking at her too. They both looked away, with that hand-caught-in-the-cookie-jar look of embarrassment on their faces. Rory turned her attention to her doodles on her notepad, and jumped yet again when she saw one word she had scribbled quite clearly. "Jess." 


	15. Chapter 15

I'm so sorry this installment took so long, but I had such writer's block! Thanks for all the encouragement to continue! It really helped get me going! I hope you like it!  
  
~All disclaimers apply~  
  
Length of Time 15  
  
"Hey."  
  
Rory looked up from her book, to see Jess standing over her, now.  
  
"Hi," she said, nervously, as he sat down.  
  
"How's your mom?"  
  
"Crazy still."  
  
"I mean pain-wise," he said wryly.  
  
"She's okay. She has other things on her mind right now."  
  
"Really," Jess said, hoping she might choose to continue.  
  
Rory regarded him with a curious look and decided to continue. She smiled. "Well, turns out in a moment of complete and total Lorelai insanity, she kissed Luke."  
  
"She kissed him!?" Jess said, seeming astonished by the whole thing.  
  
"Yeah, finally."  
  
"Man, I'll say. I was entertaining the idea of surgically putting magnets inside their lips," he joked.  
  
Rory laughed. "That's funny. But I think they'd look weird. I mean, square lips don't really look good on anyone. Boxy."  
  
"Very boxy," he agreed.  
  
"So when's your next class?" Rory asked him.  
  
"An hour. You?"  
  
"Two hours." He nodded, looking around like he wasn't sure of what to say. Rory hesitated, but finally asked "do you.. I don't know, wanna get lunch?" in a very casual tone.  
  
Jess smiled. "Sure, I'm starving."  
  
Meanwhile at St. Marks's Hospital, Room 203-----  
  
"You can do this, you're strong. You're a Gilmore. That's strong stock, right there," Lorelai was telling herself, when she suddenly heard the door start to open.  
  
Luke entered the hospital room very cautiously, practically tip-toeing. He was clearly on edge, and Lorelai took this as a bad sign.  
  
When he reached the foot of her bed, he just looked around, finding everything in the room except her suddenly fascinating. His uneasiness was the same as the day before when he visited her after she woke up. Only this time, she was uneasy too. She had no idea what to say to him this time.  
  
After a few horribly intense and awkward moments, Luke finally said "So, I brought..." he indicated to the bedside table. Lorelai looked over and grabbed the Fake Coffee nervously.  
  
"Ah! Fake Coffee! Yes. Thank you!" she said, much too excitedly.  
  
"You're looking... medicated," Luke finally said, after looking at her, noticing the crazy look in her eyes. Then he chastised himself for his horrible attempt at small talk.  
  
Lorelai couldn't stand it anymore. "AHHHH!" she shrieked, putting her head into her hands and shaking it, to which Luke just looked at her like she was nuts.  
  
"You okay?"  
  
"Luke I am so sorry! I never meant to... I shouldn't have... I k-k---ki--- " she couldn't say it. Not to him. This wasn't like talking to Rory. This was Luke. As in Luke the Man She Just Kissed. "Ki-killed---"  
  
"You killed.." he encouraged her on, enjoying how cute she looked trying to get around saying what had just happened.  
  
"I killed the mood. Just now. With my shriek. We were having a perfectly pleasant Fake Coffee-related conversation and I killed that. Convo... you know, that's the online slang for conversation. And BTW is the online way of saying by the way. OMG stands for oh my god," she said. Now she was just flailing her arms while she talked, seemingly at a loss of bodily control... and verbal control as well.  
  
"Did someone give you a computer with internet access as a get-well gift?" he asked, breaking her of her crazy rant.  
  
"Nope. These are things that Rory is picking up at Yale, and telling me all about. I think it's fascinating. Soon we'll all be talking in abbreviations. Like you tell a joke, and instead of laughing I just say lol," she said, only instead of saying the letters L O L, she said lol like it was a word.  
  
"Lol?" he repeated. "Nevermind, don't care, Lorelai you have to relax. You're gonna..." he stopped as she looked up at him, "hurt yourself" he finished.  
  
"O.M.G., Luke, we kissed!" she finally said.  
  
"O.M.. ah, right. Okay," he said, realizing what she was talking about.  
  
"well WE didn't kiss..."  
  
"We didn't?" he asked, clearly confused now.  
  
"I kissed YOU," she clarified.  
  
"I'm pretty sure I kissed you back," he said, putting his hands in his pockets, suddenly getting a little embarrassed.  
  
"Luke, you're still with Nicole," she said, and put her head in her hands again, despairingly, feeling ashamed all of a sudden.  
  
"I told you yesterday. We're done. What are you talking about?"  
  
"Oh, Luke, you're not done. You broke up with her without logically thinking about it. You were upset, you weren't logical, you were in an illogical state of mind---"  
  
"I got it, logic wasn't on my side."  
  
"Luke, I shouldn't have done that."  
  
"Done what?" he asked, a smile creeping up his lips. She shot him a look.  
  
"You KNOW what."  
  
"I'm not sure I do," he said, trying to sound serious.  
  
"You're really gonna be like this? Fine. I shouldn't have KISSED you! You had a great thing going with Nicole, and you should think twice before letting it all fly out the window," she said gesturing to the window, at which time he looked at the window, confused and intrigued by her tangent.  
  
"Luke, you could have found 'the one' and who am I to stand in the way? I'm not Ali Baba, I can't just think I have all this power and can wipe away 'the one' from your life, by being all kissy and stupid!"  
  
"Lorelai, you lost me on Ali Baba."  
  
"I'm sorry, Luke," she said, dead serious now. "I am so sorry. I was just.. I mean, the Nurse said... Millie said... I... I'm not sure what happened. It's all a little fuzzy in my head now. Really fuzzy actually. It's part medication-induced fuzziness, and part going-out-of-my-mind- related fuzziness. But to make a long story short----"  
  
"I'm not sure you could make a long story short," he said, more to himself, while she pretended to ignore his comment and charged on---  
  
"I, for whatever reason, kissed you. And I didn't really think about the consequences. And that is so unfair of me! I mean there's our friendship to consider, and your feelings, I mean, I shouldn't just assume you'll go along with whatever I want to do, I mean, if I jumped off the London Bridge.. okay, okay.. and there's also Nicole to consider. She's still in the picture, whether you admit it or not."  
  
By now Luke was sitting in the chair next to her bed, getting too nervous standing up listening to her go off like this. He looked up at the exasperated woman in the bed.  
  
"O.M.G, Lorelai, Nicole is not in the picture and B.T.W..." he started.  
  
"B.T.W. what?"  
  
He stood up, suddenly feeling bold, and took the step that closed the space between the chair and bed. He bent down, put a hand in her hair, and pulled her into a kiss, pausing briefly before their lips touched to give her a look that told her that he wasn't lying. 


	16. Chapter 16

All the normal disclaimers apply~~  
  
Hey, thanks for all the support and encouragement to continue this!! I really appreciate it! You all are so great! Thanks again!!  
  
Length of Time, Chapter 16  
  
After what seemed like forever--- and like heaven--- Luke pulled back, and looked at Lorelai, who still had her eyes closed, her mouth open a little, her expression shocked. And Luke couldn't help noticing, he'd managed to completely make her speechless for probably the first time since he'd met her. He reminded himself of that one time he proposed marriage to her, which also shocked her and rendered her speechless, which was his point at the time. But now, looking at her expression, he wished he could just as easily make the awkwardness go away be merely saying "I was just trying to make you stop talking." But he somehow didn't think that in this case, it would work.  
  
She finally opened her eyes and looked into his. He put a hand on his cheek, the awkwardness starting to make that feeling of excitement and thrill he'd just experienced start to turn to feelings of nausea. He sat down again in the chair, placed his elbows on the bed and looked up at her expectantly. He'd kissed her, so he expected her to at least say the first word. And she eventually did.  
  
"Um."  
  
That was all she was capable of.  
  
"Yeah," he agreed.  
  
"Wow."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Lorelai rolled her eyes and smiled. A small smile started to form on his lips too. "What's so amusing?" he asked, trying to sound intimidating and Luke-like angry, but she knew better.  
  
"I'm just wondering what you did," she said simply, starting to wrack her brain.  
  
"I kissed you," he said, confused by the idea that that IS actually what he just did. Oh, what he'd always wanted to do, sure, but NOW actually DID.  
  
"No, not that."  
  
"I can't think of anything else that I just did. Just now."  
  
Lorelai smiled. "One kiss from you, Luke, and all of a sudden, I have your gift for brevity. One word sentences. Me, Lorelai Gilmore. The girl with the gift of gab. It's all been stifled. It's gone. I'm YOU. Without the flannel and cap, and definitely with a more colorful wardrobe in general, except this hospital gown doesn't really count. All I know is, you have powers, strange man, and I demand to know what you've done to make me this way."  
  
"I'm not sure who YOU'RE talking about, because the woman I'm looking at just talked for twenty seconds straight without taking a breath. I'd say the gift for gab is still intact."  
  
Lorelai thought about that and let out a feigned sigh of relief. "Ah, well, thank god. You know, that was a close one. Next time, I may not get back this gift I've been given."  
  
"Maybe next time I'll do it right, then."  
  
"Next time? There's gonna be a next time?" she asked him innocently.  
  
"YOU said 'next time' first, I'm just quoting you."  
  
"Luke, you know me, I'm unreliable, I wouldn't quote me if I were you."  
  
"So you..." he nervously tried to find the words to finish his thought. Or his question, rather. "Are you saying there won't be... there, uh, I...." He couldn't do it. The sentence just wasn't forming. But she was enjoying watching him work out what to say, obviously thinking that she didn't want to kiss him ever again.  
  
"I'm not saying anything. You're confusing me, Luke. I'm just sitting here, trying to recover in peace and you just storm in, take me in a passionate embrace, and ravage me----"  
  
"Lorelai, you made me tie my shoes together, kissed ME, and pretty much knocked me over after that because next thing I know, I'm on the floor, so don't talk about----"  
  
"Luke, I'm kidding! Can't you take a joke?"  
  
"Not about... Lorelai, just be serious."  
  
He stood up again and paced the floor.  
  
Lorelai looked up at him. "You kissed me. Just now. Well not now so much as a minute ago, but all the same, Luke, you kissed me. I just wanted to be serious for a moment and point that out."  
  
"What's all this 'WE didn't kiss, I kissed you and then YOU kissed ME' stuff, Lorelai, because from where I'm sitting, I kissed you back out there in the hall, and then in here, you kissed me back, and so both times, WE kissed each other!"  
  
"Standing."  
  
"What?"  
  
Sometimes she could just drive him nuts, he mused.  
  
"Standing. You said 'from where I'm sitting', but you're actually standing right now.... Luke? That face you're making, I KNOW that face. Are you.... do you have appendicitis too? Works out, you're already in a hospital."  
  
"I don't have appendicitis! I have Lorelai-induced nausea with a little touch of Lorelai-induced insanity! I think the best treatment would be---"  
  
"Lorelai," she finished for him.  
  
He turned suddenly and looked at her, bewildered, and saw that she was giving him a sweet smile that said she was feeling what he was feeling too. It wasn't just him.  
  
"I'm sorry. I tend to talk a lot when I'm nervous," she explained.  
  
"What's your excuse for the rest of the time?" he quipped.  
  
"Ha," she said, dropping her mouth open in mock shock.  
  
He went back and sat down. "What's happening here?" he finally asked.  
  
"Well, in a drug-induced state of mind, I thought it would be a good idea to spin our relationship on its head, and then you fell over. And then, you came in here and you took a spin with our relationship and now it's... spinning."  
  
"Caught that part. Are you forgetting that I was THERE, out there?" he pointed to the hall. "And also, I was HERE, before?" he added, pointing to where he was sitting. "You keep pointing out that we kissed, both out there and in here, explaining it to me like I wasn't there. Like I wasn't the other person in the two-person exchange both times."  
  
"Two-person exchange? Luke, that is such an un-romantic way to ever describe a kiss! Even if it's a kiss with your mother, that definition is just cold and removed and----"  
  
"---and please don't mention kissing my mother right now. We are talking about the type of kiss that I would rather not associate my mother with."  
  
"Well still. Kissing a dog shouldn't be described so unemotionally, although that wouldn't be a two-person exchange so much as a man-canine---- "  
  
"Lorelai!"  
  
He hid his face in his hands momentarily and then looked back up at her, his eyes popping out with anxiety. It could be said that the man looked frazzled.  
  
"Focusing, Luke. And I'm not sure. What's happening. With us."  
  
Luke let out a sigh and relaxed a little. "Well that makes two of us."  
  
And at Yale---  
  
"So when are you going back to see your mom?"  
  
"Tomorrow. She made me promise to wait out school and then go see her when the weekend came. I didn't like it, she plays a dirty game, but I do feel better knowing that Luke's keeping a close eye on her. An apparently very close eye. Although, with this new information, I'm thinking their eyes are probably shut most of the time. Or at least that one time."  
  
Jess nodded. "Their eyes are most definitely shut. That's kind of funny that he's keeping a close eye on her with shut eyes."  
  
"I can one-up you there. It's funny that they FINALLY opened their eyes to what was in front of them all along with their eyes CLOSED."  
  
"You got me there," he agreed. After a brief pause, he added, "so what do you do when someone you don't like keeps bothering you? I mean usually I don't care, I'll just tell someone to bug off, and that doesn't bother me, but there's this girl and---" he stopped, looking at Rory. She was listening, looking him in the eye, but he couldn't read her expression. It seemed objective, but still. "Is this okay?"  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
"Talking. About this kind of stuff. I don't wanna make things awkward. I mean, as it is, we're still in that fragile acquaintance stage."  
  
She squinted her eyes at him in overly-emotional, sarcastic anger. "So you ARE gonna hold that over my head forever!"  
  
"I am a man of my word."  
  
She raised her eyebrows at that.  
  
"Bad choice words," he simply said, not wanting the mood to shift and become awkward.  
  
"Horrible choice words," she agreed, smiling to let him know that she wasn't gonna give him a hard time about it. "And this is fine. Tell me about this girl."  
  
He took a bite of his sandwich and paused to think of exactly what to say. He swallowed and started in on an explanation.  
  
"Well, she's a really nice girl. We just don't click. Or something. I don't know. I'm not exactly the romantic-type so I wouldn't know what it's technically called when two people don't..."  
  
He paused, trying to think of the right words.  
  
"Have chemistry," she finished.  
  
"Chemistry," he said as a question put forth more like a statement.  
  
"Yeah," Rory said, taking a bite of her sandwich. She chewed and swallowed, while thinking. "Okay, well, people can be great friends, and just not have chemistry. Like Mimi and Shawn on Days of Our Lives."  
  
"Days of Our Lives?"  
  
"One of my roommates watches it and I've picked up a few things. But don't tell my mom, she COULD disown me for it."  
  
"Well, I think it should be a rule of thumb that when talking about two friends who'll never be more than just friends, a soap opera should not be the point in case."  
  
"Very true. Good point. But do you get the point?"  
  
Jess nodded and gave her a half-smile. "Yeah, Shawn and Mimi won't be getting it on any time soon."  
  
"Try never. They're just not compatible romantically, but they're really good friends."  
  
"Are you sure it's your roommate turning the TV onto that channel at one o'clock?" he asked in a teasing tone.  
  
"Hey, I'm not the one who knows what time it's on," she shot back, playfully.  
  
"It was just a guess."  
  
"You guessed right. I think you might harbor secret soap opera fan tendencies."  
  
"I guessed RIGHT? I guess you DO know what time it's on, then," he said.  
  
He had here there and she just made a grudging face.  
  
"So, okay, what exactly is this chemistry thing?" he asked, after a short, almost-awkward silence.  
  
"Not sure. I'm actually probably not the best person to ask. I mean, I've just heard people talk about chemistry. But I'm no expert. Believe me," she answered.  
  
"Hm," he mused.  
  
"Okay, so more on Mystery Girl."  
  
"Red hair. Nice. Pretty. Talks a lot about make-up."  
  
"Ooh," Rory grimaced, in clear agreement that this was, and should be, a major turn-off.  
  
"But she's smart and not like flighty and superficial or annoying."  
  
Rory shifted a little uncomfortably. "So what's the problem, then?"  
  
He smiled, but didn't look at her. "I guess the chemistry's just not there."  
  
And back at the hospital----  
  
After a few terribly awkward moments, with the tension so thick, it couldn't even be cut with a knife, but would definitely call for a high- powered tool instead, Lorelai finally broke the silence.  
  
"I need a drink!"  
  
"Well you can forget it. Alcohol's another thing on your list of things you have to stay away from. But that list is for YOU, not ME, and I think when I get out of here I may be doing a little drinking myself."  
  
"But you---"  
  
"----well not today."  
  
Lorelai shook her head at him. Really, he wasn't handling this well, she thought. "Well anyway, I was talking about something I'm allowed, and something in this room."  
  
He looked at the bedside table, and the as-of-yet untouched Fake Coffee. He reached for it and handed it to her.  
  
She took a small sip.  
  
"Luke-warm," she joked.  
  
He just shot her a warning look. She took the hint, and was quiet long enough to drink some more.  
  
After a short, comfortable silence, Lorelai decided to stop beating around the bush.  
  
"Do you feel bad for me, Luke? Is that why... why before you... well why YOU kissed ME?"  
  
"Didn't we already agree----"  
  
"Fine, fine, why WE kissed EACH OTHER the second time, you know, the kiss that YOU initiated."  
  
He bobbed his head in agreement of her new wording. Then he looked at her like she'd just spoken in extraterrestrial tongue.  
  
"What are you talking about? Feel bad for you?"  
  
"God, this is embarrassing. Just... Okay, I wanna talk about this with you, Luke, I mean, we SHOULD talk, right?"  
  
"Right."  
  
"But I can't have this particular embarrassing conversation with you looking at me. Turn around?"  
  
"What!?"  
  
"Turn around!"  
  
"Are you serious?" he asked again, suddenly feeling the need to grab her shoulders and shake her. Although he knew if he grabbed her shoulders, with the state his mind was currently in, he'd just start kissing her again.  
  
"I'm very serious. And stop looking at me like you wanna shake me. I only just had surgery. Have a little compassion!"  
  
"You...ugh..." he said, standing reluctantly and turning around. "Okay. Talk."  
  
"You won't turn around?"  
  
"I won't turn around," he said, in his most patient voice.  
  
"Can you see my reflection in the----"  
  
"Lorelai!"  
  
"Focusing, Luke. Okay. Well.... Nurse Lady told me that when I was being prepped for surgery, I said something. And I know you know what I'm talking about because after I said it, word is she spread it like wildfire. Not so much wildfire, as she told YOU I said it. And that... Well, I don't know what that is. Humiliating to say the least, but----"  
  
"Lorelai, it's not----" Luke started, gently.  
  
"No, no, just... let me finish what I have to say. I'm just... Okay. Where to start. Well, let's start with yesterday, I guess."  
  
She took a sip of the Fake Coffee for energy to go on and just say this.  
  
"And most of this is stuff you know. So I'm just gonna---- okay. Well yesterday I came into the diner, you were busy, I wanted coffee, even though I had a stomach ache, I mean your coffee is THAT good, Luke that I couldn't help myself even though I was running late AND it was my opening AND I had a stomach---"  
  
"Focus.."  
  
"Right, focusing. So you were busy. And I couldn't find the to-go cups---- "  
  
Luke stared at the wall ahead of him and noted the tightening in his stomach that the mention of yesterday gave him. It was a similar feeling of anxiety that he actually had yesterday when all was going so desperately wrong. But it wasn't AS bad a feeling today, as he obviously now knew the outcome. But still, listening to her talk about that day, that horrible day that would no doubt scare him for the rest of his life--- that fear and helplessness he'd felt---- his stomach contracted and his heart rate sped up a little. He didn't want to hear this, but he knew he had to.  
  
"----and I saw them down there, so I bent down and was trying to open them when I overheard your conversation with Nicole. And what you, uh.. said about me. I remember I prayed that you wouldn't walk back there. I thought if you did, I'd die on the spot from humiliation, but you didn't.. and I left. I just remember driving after that, and thinking about you. About our friendship and what I thought it meant to you---"  
  
Luke closed his eyes painfully, at that, all of a sudden glad he wasn't facing her. That she couldn't see the emotions playing out on his face.  
  
"---and what it meant to me. And I thought about how much I loved.. uh, our friendship. And also, about how Nicole mentioned you two almost got married."  
  
She paused and darted her eyes back and forth in remembrance. She was starting to feel a little uncomfortable now, even with Luke not facing her.  
  
"And I remember it bothered me. That you almost got married. And why should that have bothered me? I couldn't figure it out, I mean, we're friends! You are one of my best friends, and if you found 'the one', I should be jumping up and down, taking notes so I can plan you the best wedding known to man, but here I was being selfishly and mysteriously, as far as I was concerned, upset about the whole thing. Then I thought about our friendship a little more before the attack came on and I passed out. So you were the last thing on my mind before I passed out, basically."  
  
She took a breath, willing herself to continue. She noticed Luke tapping his pant leg nervously now, too. She thought this definitely seemed a bad sign. She started to think that maybe reminding him of how important Nicole was to him, that he almost married her, was not such a good idea. But even so----  
  
"So the nurse tells me today, this morning actually, what I said before they took me into surgery. And I freaked out. And then she tells me that she had told YOU that, under the misguided impression that we were.. well, something. Married, together, something. I talked to Millie, that old lady who thinks my name is Sadie and your's is Lukenbil? I told her everything about US, and..." Lorelai swallowed. "She said to kiss you."  
  
On the word 'kiss', her voice dropped to practically a whisper. She swallowed again, starting to feel her cheeks flush.  
  
"And when I left her room, you were there. And.. and I wanted to do it. Which is pretty selfish of me, when you think about it, because it takes two to tango, so to say, and I just kind of solo-danced on over there and forced you to partake. And... I kissed you. And I loved it. And---"  
  
He felt butterflies in his stomach just then, when she admitted to loving the kiss. He knew it was taking her a lot to say all this, and the whole thing was starting to give him that butterfly feeling in overdrive.  
  
"And when I got back to my room, I started to panic and think about the whole thing. Yesterday, and then Nurse Lady, and then Millie, and then us. I realized that you might have felt bad. I mean, there's the fact that you knew I overheard what you said, and admittedly felt bad about it. Then there's the fact that the Nurse told you what I said, and you may have just felt bad about me overhearing PLUS having.. feelings... for you on top of that. Then there's the fact that on top of all THAT, I'd also just had surgery and am a little vulnerable. With everything combined you didn't want to hurt my feelings, so you just went along with it---"  
  
At some point in her last rant, he'd turned to face her. He'd said he wouldn't, but he couldn't believe what he was hearing and he had to turn around.  
  
"You're saying----" he started, not able to find the right way to express what he wanted to say.  
  
"I'm saying that you may have felt bad for me, and so you kissed me BACK, out there," she said, pointing to the hallway again, now all too aware that her face was turning pink. "And then again in here, because again, you felt bad, and thought it might be what I wanted---"  
  
"You're serious," he said incredulously, now putting a hand on his cheek again, looking at her in utter disbelief.  
  
"Luke, I'm very serious. I just want you to be honest with me. I'd die if I ever knew you were just pitying me."  
  
He was now sitting down again, facing her.  
  
"Lorelai."  
  
She had stopped talking, now clearly embarrassed, so much so that she wasn't even joking with him. She wouldn't look at him. She stared ahead, expressionless. He wasn't looking in her eyes, but he was pretty sure she was about to cry.  
  
"I.. when you kissed me out there, when WE kissed each other," he corrected himself, smiling, "that was... it was the best thing that ever happened to me."  
  
She turned her head to look at him.  
  
He gave her a small smile. "I was surprised, I mean I had no idea. Sure, the nurse told me what you said, but you were also unconscious, practically at the time, so I wasn't just gonna assume it was true. It really took me by surprise. I mean, as far as I was concerned, you just wanted to play a game in the hallway. It sounded Lorelai-like enough."  
  
She smiled with him, at that, and turned again, getting embarrassed again.  
  
"Help me up? I wanna take a walk," she said.  
  
He stood up and walked over to the other side of the bed, and helped her up. Once he had her firmly standing on her two feet, he placed a supportive arm around her waist. "You okay?" he asked.  
  
"Sure," she smiled. "Shall we skip?"  
  
"Only because I think that you COULD be serious, I'm just gonna say 'no,' for your own safety," he answered as they started walking.  
  
"Wimp," she said.  
  
They opened the door and started into the hallway. "So, then, you're not just sitting here feeling sorry for me, or pitying me or anything?" Lorelai asked, trying to sound casual, but her nerves getting the better of her, as she still wasn't sure of his feelings... or her own, for that matter, as they'd been through a lot in the last two days.  
  
"I promise," he answered.  
  
She put her arm around his shoulder, to help herself walk more easily. He sensed that she was having trouble and tightened his hold on her waist with his hand.  
  
"So, then, Luke, what ARE your feelings?"  
  
"I, uh... I'm----"  
  
"Luke, this is no time for your trademark-brevity. I just poured my soul out here."  
  
"That's true," he agreed.  
  
"Shall we play a game? Will that help you?"  
  
"No more games," he said, as if he were frustrated, although, he was far from it.  
  
"Last time you got a prize," she joked, while wincing. She was in pain.  
  
He smiled. "That's true," he simply said. He sensed that she was hurting, and led her to the waiting area.  
  
He set her down, gently, in a chair. He looked around, surprised that no one was in the room just now. He sat down next to her.  
  
"You okay?" he asked.  
  
"I'm fine, but my stomach's been better," she said, wincing again.  
  
"Why don't I go get a wheelchair and we'll get you back. We shouldn't have left, probably."  
  
"Oh, Luke, don't let Nurse Lady scare you. I like to keep her on her toes."  
  
"And I'm sure you do."  
  
He looked at her just then, sitting there in pain, having just had surgery, obviously hurting and still, she had worked up the energy to make the move he'd been too scared to make for years. And then poured her heart out to him, which took even more guts and energy. He looked down, and started to fuss with the material on the knee of his jeans.  
  
"I've had.. feelings.. for you...for a long time. Years, I guess you could say. But you were my friend. My best friend, and I couldn't risk trying anything and losing that. I don't have all that many friends and I couldn't imagine NOT having your friendship. Not having you there, in my face, forcing me to caffeinate you---"  
  
"If you like to caffeinate me, then why all the fuss?"  
  
"It's what we do," he simply answered, like it was an obvious fact. She thought about it and mentally agreed. "My feelings came back to me in full yesterday. I mean, they're always there, but I manage to keep them beneath the surface. Then I say the worst, and most untrue thing about you, to someone who just wasn't worth it, either, and find out you heard. Then you're missing. Then you're in a hospital. And I saw you lying there, not knowing what was wrong with you. But you weren't conscious, weren't bothering me, weren't.. it's like you were THERE, but you weren't. And I couldn't breathe."  
  
He stopped to take a deep breath before continuing. He wasn't looking at her, but knew she was looking at him now.  
  
"Then I found out you were gonna be okay, and the relief nearly knocked me out. I mean, I've never felt relief like that. I've never felt fear like that or relief like that. It scared me. But.. I knew what it meant. It meant that no matter how you felt, I should be taking more risks. Actually, today I was gonna tell you how I felt, even before you kissed me-- -"  
  
"God, get it right, Luke, I didn't kiss YOU, we kissed each other," she teased, using his own words against him, in an attempt to lighten the mood and calm him down, as he almost seemed to be shaking, as far as she could tell.  
  
He looked at her and smiled. "When the nurse told me you said that... that you loved me..."  
  
Now she broke their gaze and looked down, at that.  
  
".. I wasn't sure if it was true, but.. I don't know, it gave me hope, I guess. Lorelai, I always knew that if I ever kissed you, it would be different from kissing anyone I've ever kissed before. And it was. It was different. It was amazing."  
  
She looked up at him again, her embarrassment wearing off. "Then we're in agreement," she said.  
  
"WE'RE in agreement?"  
  
"Stranger things have happened, Luke. Take off your hat."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Your hat. Take it off."  
  
"Why?"  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Well, I want to run my fingers through your hair if we should happen to kiss again, hint hint, nudge nudge, wink wink, and I can't lift my left arm these days."  
  
He gave her a small smile and obliged, feeling a familiar feeling stir in his stomach, at the excitement of definitely kissing her again, whenever it might be. He looked down, and played with his hat, which was now in his lap.  
  
"You know," he started quietly. "Me too," he finished, barely audibly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Me too," he said, louder. "What you said to the nurse."  
  
"Luke, you don't have to----"  
  
He looked up at her, and locked his eyes with hers.  
  
"Can't you tell?" he asked.  
  
Then he started to lean in. She leaned in too, until the only part of them that was touching was their lips. It was soft and sweet, and she lifted her right hand to his hair, putting her fingers, as desired, through the strands. Her fingers in his hair, and then resting on his cheek, intensified that already pretty intense feeling in his stomach. He pulled back and looked at her with an amused expression.  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
"Just as I suspected."  
  
"What!" she demanded.  
  
"Coffee breath." 


	17. Chapter 17

Hey, everyone! Writers block sucks! But here you go!! I hope you all like it!  
  
All disclaimers apply!  
  
Length of Time Chapter 17  
  
Rory walked into the diner happily. It was the weekend and she was spending some much needed time with her mom... it was reassuring her that she really was okay. With her first week of classes otherwise going off without a hitch, and a reconciliation of sorts with Jess to go with that, she had so many reasons to be happy.  
  
"How the hell are you, Houston?" Rory called to Luke, who turned and looked at her knowingly.  
  
"Oh god, she's gotten to you," Luke said, grimly.  
  
"Yes, and I have to ask... why is my mom calling you 'Houston'?"  
  
"Why do people like Mariah Carey and Britney Spears star in movies? Or sing, for that matter. The world is full of these mysteries, but to answer your question, in typical Lorelai-fashion, she was bored at the hospital yesterday and decided that the people in her life need better nicknames. She thought mine was 'funny'. I fail to see the humor," he finished, letting out a small grunt.  
  
Rory smiled. She had never heard Luke offer so much all at once. She knew the reason, and it was obvious that he was walking on air. She thought it was so cute.. it was just so un-Luke-like. She couldn't stop smirking at this whole idea. Her mom and Luke.  
  
Luke caught the look on Rory's face.  
  
"I don't know what you're smiling at, Brazilian Nut," he shot at her.  
  
Rory nodded, confused. "Yeah, she won't tell me what inspired that nickname."  
  
"It's a waste of time to really try to figure out what inspires most of what she says," he said, pouring coffee for a customer.  
  
Rory sat down at the counter.  
  
"Need coffee!" she exclaimed, over-dramatically, emphasizing each word slowly.  
  
"To drink here, I hope," Luke said.  
  
"Of course! Luke, I am insulted that you even ask. You think I'm gonna take coffee to the hospital and risk either certain death from my mom for keeping it from her, or watching her risk certain death drinking it after stealing it from me, after of course knocking me senseless?"  
  
Luke half-grinned while he poured Rory's cup of coffee. He couldn't exactly wipe the smile off his face ever since he and Lorelai had.. well, kissed, two days ago. It was just those two kisses, as too many visitors (aka, prying eyes) were around for the past day and a half to share any more. But, while they hadn't kissed again, they'd shared quite a few "looks".  
  
He found himself constantly thinking about her, them.. and THAT. That being the kiss. Kisses, he reminded himself. And there it was.. he was smiling again.  
  
"Oh, Houston, I think we have a problem," Rory's voice chimed into his thoughts, and he looked at her warningly. "Sorry, sorry, I couldn't resist. You just looked like you were.."  
  
"Please don't finish that sentence," he said, more to himself.  
  
"..lost in space," she finished, laughing a little.  
  
"Hey."  
  
Rory turned, noticing Jess walking toward her and Luke.  
  
"Great, Jess, its all yours," Luke said, pleased to see his nephew.  
  
Rory looked confused.  
  
"I'm just helping out so he can take off for awhile," Jess explained, reading Rory's thoughts. "Puppy love is a beautiful thing," he added, to which Rory stifled a laugh and Luke grunted at Jess. "Uncle Luke, do I get time and a half for this?"  
  
"You get the gift of my forgiveness," Luke said, straight-faced.  
  
"For what?" Jess asked, trying his best to act stoic.  
  
"For turning me prematurely gray."  
  
"I don't see gray," Jess said, staring intently at Luke's hair.  
  
"There's a few. And they weren't ready to turn yet. Until you," Luke said, sternly.  
  
"Oh, Luke, I almost forgot," Rory said, grabbing her backpack. She rummaged around and located a key. "Here you are," she said, tossing him the key.  
  
"Great, thanks," Luke said.  
  
"I can't believe they're letting her out of the hospital tomorrow. Wasn't she supposed to be there like a week?" Jess asked.  
  
"They suggested that when she was still unconscious," Rory said, nodding as if she were sympathetic to the poor doctors.  
  
"Now they're claiming that she's made a miraculously quick recovery. I don't think they fully understood what they were dealing with. I don't think they're equipped for her just yet. Give technology another twenty years for that miracle," Luke said, as he put on a coat and headed for the door.  
  
"Hey, Uncle Luke, do you need some binaca?" Jess asked coyly, to which Luke turned, now at the doorway.  
  
He thought for a moment, and then smiled.  
  
"Hey, Brazilian Nut," Luke started.  
  
"Yes, Houston," Rory replied, while Jess raised an eyebrow in confusion.  
  
Before Luke could even continue, he couldn't suppress a laugh. "Uh, keep an eye on Mr. Perky Man," he said, before leaving.  
  
Rory laughed and turned to face a very-confused Jess. "My mom couldn't think of a better nickname for you," she explained.  
  
"I would think ANY nickname would be better than that."  
  
She nodded sarcastically. After a brief pause, she tilted her head. "So, you carry binaca with you at ALL times?" she asked, as if she were interviewing him. Again, she was having trouble suppressing her building laughter. She realized, uncomfortably, that she was really wondering, in the midst of her humor, who he might be preparing to kiss at all times, that he carried spray with him for such an occasion. But she dismissed romantic thoughts quickly, and smiled, while he got to work, bringing an order to a table, shaking his head at her as he passed.  
  
And at St. Marks's Hospital--- Room 201  
  
"Lorelai, stop calling me that," Emily said, rolling her eyes.  
  
"But Babushka," Lorelai started.  
  
"Lorelai!" Emily repeated, warningly.  
  
"Well, it's not a totally random name, mom, I really thought about it. In Russian, it means 'grandmother'.. or 'handkerchief'... I think.... and well, you're Rory's grandmother, so---"  
  
"Lorelai, you miss the part where I care about any of this. Now please, stop with this nonsense," Emily said, shaking her head.  
  
"What's my name?"  
  
"Lorelai---" she warned.  
  
"My name.."  
  
Emily took a deep breath and looked at Lorelai. Her daughter who seemed to be shining from the inside out, despite being bedridden. She was bouncing around, albeit not as much as usual.. and seeing her there in the hospital bed, in such good spirits, even SHE felt something inside, and part of her wanted to go along with Lorelai's craziness to keep her this happy.  
  
To keep up her oh-so-superior pretense, however, she rolled her eyes, as she muttered, reluctantly, her next words. "Glory Girl."  
  
"What was that?" Lorelai asked.  
  
"Glory Girl!" Emily said, feigning exasperation.  
  
Lorelai's face lit up at the mention of her self-proclaimed nickname. Emily just shook her head at the ridiculousness of it all.  
  
"Hello Miss Gilmore," Nurse Lady said as she entered Room 201.  
  
"What do you have her on?" Emily demanded, before Lorelai could say anything.  
  
"Everyone asks me that," the nurse mused. "She's not on anything. If you can believe it, she's just like that normally I guess."  
  
"I can believe it," Emily said, under her breath. "Okay, Lorelai, I'm---"  
  
Lorelai cleared her throat loudly.  
  
"I mean, Glory Girl.." Emily shook her head before continuing. "I'm going back to Hartford. Your father is having some stuffy, boring couple over tonight, and I have to have everything PERFECT!" she said, mockingly.  
  
"Goodbye, Babushka!" Lorelai cooed.  
  
Emily shook her head yet again. Then she smiled slightly. "I will see you tomorrow..at your house."  
  
"Yup! This girl is going home!" Lorelai announced.  
  
"Thank god," Nurse Lady said to herself.  
  
"Ha," Lorelai said, her mouth falling open in shock.  
  
"Bye," Emily said once more, as she headed out of the room.  
  
"Okay, time for your shots," the nurse said, walking over to Lorelai. Lorelai was still smiling. She really was glowing from the inside out. Ever since those two perfect moments of kissing Luke, and then the wonderful moments of sharing that followed, she could not stop smiling.  
  
"You know, Miss Gilmore, I really feel that I have had a hand in fate here. With you and Mr. Danes, I mean. I mean, I haven't seen either of you stop smiling since---"  
  
"Oh, no, Nurse Lady. Don't you go feeling all chipper and happy that you united two lovebirds or something. I think you definitely should get in the habit of talking less. Try not relaying messages from unconscious people to their friends for starters," Lorelai said. "Ow," she said, looking up at the nurse, who held the needle in her hand. The nurse just smiled down at her, as if she didn't do a thing.  
  
"Hey," Luke said, entering the room.  
  
"Houston!"  
  
"Stop calling me that."  
  
"Houston---"  
  
"Lorelai----"  
  
"Bah! He calls me 'Lorelai'! Nurse Lady, tell him what my name is."  
  
The nurse pulled the needle out and got her things, preparing to leave. Her expression unchanging, her voice monotone, she answered, "Glory Girl," as if she had been asked to recite to all Lorelai's visitors this new name. She sounded bored and uninterested. She shook her head as she walked out of the room.  
  
The door closed, leaving them alone. Luke looked down at the floor momentarily, and after a brief moment, he looked up at Lorelai.  
  
Her happiness from earlier quickly turned to anxiety and she realized she had nothing to say. Her smile had also now turned into a serious pout. She had been dying to talk to him alone for the past day and a half and now that it was just them... she was nervous.  
  
Luke knew exactly how she felt. He felt that he couldn't get to the hospital fast enough to see her... and now that he was seeing her, his heart rate sped up completely, and he felt himself starting to sweat. He couldn't think of anything to say either.  
  
"So...." Lorelai started.  
  
"So," Luke said, encouragingly.  
  
Lorelai threw her hands up. "Great. We're in two places that I hate being. I just didn't think we'd get there this fast."  
  
"What two places are we talking about?" Luke asked, warily.  
  
"We're in that weird, awkward phase for one thing. I hate that. And we've run out of things to talk about. That's the kiss of death," she said, growing upset now.  
  
"Now hold on, Glory Girl," he said, to which she looked up, surprised and excited. "We're really in only one bad place. We haven't run out of things to say. We're having trouble talking to each other BECAUSE of the awkwardness. But look at us now. I think we're over it," Luke said.  
  
"That's true. I mean, we are talking now," Lorelai mused.  
  
"It would seem so," Luke said, as he slowly walked to the side of her bed. He sat down.  
  
After a small, but sweet, pause, Lorelai said, "actually we are still in one bad place."  
  
"And that would be.."  
  
"The hospital," Lorelai said.  
  
"Well that will all be over tomorrow," Luke said, smiling a little at her.  
  
"I know! Is it me, or is this hospital in a rush to get rid of me?" Lorelai asked, cluelessly.  
  
Luke just smiled and shrugged.  
  
"So, Luke, are you excited for babysitting?"  
  
"I wouldn't exactly call it babysitting," he said wryly.  
  
"Oh, you naïve man. That's sweet," she said.  
  
He shook his head at her.  
  
"No funny business, Lorelai. You be good," he said, strictly.  
  
"Luke, I'm shocked you would even suggest that I wouldn't be."  
  
"I must be insane," he said, not cracking a smile.  
  
"I'm starting to think you might be. But I have to tell you, Houston, that you wear insanity well. I, personally, love this new.. craziness that has come over you."  
  
Luke couldn't help smiling at her now. Really smiling. He shook his head, deciding that she could never cease to amaze him.  
  
"I just wanted to say hi. I actually have a lot to do today," he said.  
  
"What are you doing today?"  
  
"Nothing you need to know about," he answered, giving her a look that told her not to pry.  
  
"This is very interesting," she said. "Houston has a secret."  
  
"Lorelai, no more Houston. Houston is dead!" he said, growing more agitated.  
  
She gasped at the idea that Houston was dead.  
  
Before she could go off on a tangent about his untimely death, Luke stood up and walked closer to the bed.  
  
"Listen, I'm..." he stopped, momentarily at a loss for words as their eyes met. ".. uh, going now," he finally managed. He bent down to give her a kiss.  
  
As his head got closer, she closed her eyes and relaxed her mouth. He smiled, noticing what she was doing, before closing his lips over hers. It was a sweet, but quick, kiss.  
  
They both smiled as their lips parted and she opened her eyes to see his staring intently into hers.  
  
"You know, I think I'm on to something here," he said softly.  
  
"What's that?" she asked.  
  
"A surefire way to get you to stop all that Lorelai-babble."  
  
She furrowed her eyebrows together. "It's Glory-Girl-babble now," she corrected him, pouting.  
  
He kissed her forehead softly and stood back up. "Bye," he said. "I'll be back tomorrow to pick you up."  
  
"And then starts the babysitting!" Lorelai said, smiling.  
  
"Lorelai," he said, looking back at her from the door.  
  
"Shoo!" she said, still smiling.  
  
He shook his head and left. 


End file.
